Your body contains at least 60 trillion cells. Yet your brain contains 'only' 60 billion cells, just 0.001% of the total. Proof that the 'mind' isn't just inside your skull.
Each cell carries, on average 7000 connections to other cells. Therefore the number of cell networks in the brain is 42 thousand billion, or 42,000,000000,000 pieces of information your brain can, store.
Yet your brain only weighs 3 pounds and uses just 10-23 watts of energy per day. That is less than the energy in three bananas.
Each year you will lose about 3.3 million brain cells. But that is less than 0.00000006% of the total. And nearly all of it is replaced, right on up until old age.
There is no truth in the myth that we only use 10% of brain power. The entire brain is being used every day, even if some areas of the brain are there only for storage or for back-up functions.
Super memory. The brain is capable of storing 10 trillion bits of information about you and your life experiences.
The brain can make its own 'heroin'. Endorphins are released in the Hypothalamus after vigorous physical exercise, injury, meditation, laughter and chocolate. Endorphins are up to 19 times stronger than morphine. By contrast, heroin is only 7 times stronger than morphine.
Being happy is good for the brain. Happy states trigger dopamine release, a feel-good chemical. Personal fulfillment increases neuroplasticity, slows down aging and improves memory.
Why is adolescence so difficult? One main reason is that, between puberty and early adulthood, the brain is being rebuilt. There is massive growth in the pre-frontal cortex (Headmind); connections between cell networks are being hard-wired (making emotional life-lessons more intense); and there is a temporary loss of connection between the brain's emotional centres (the limbic system) and the intellectual centers - which means that teenagers lack the capacity to make good decisions.
New experiences are vital for improved brain function. Getting out of the rut and going for new horizons increases cell growth, delays aging and improves cell connectivity. The same goes when you let go of the past and exercise forgiveness.
Binge-eating. Emotional self-neglect can lead to food cravings and over-eating. So-called stress triggers an increase in Cortisol in the blood stream, which stimulates Insulin release. High insulin levels are associated with a craving for sugary foods and foods high in carbohydrates.
Regular sex (at least twice a week) improves daily moods, reduces pain thresholds, cuts the risk of a heart attack, decreases menstrual pain and promotes sleep. This is because enjoyable sex fosters high endorphin release.
Love and sex can be addictive. Falling in love, like sexual infatuation) is similar to taking cocaine: the hypothalamus triggers a cascade of dopamine. One problem is that, once the dopamine wears off, a 'down-mood' sets in, leading to further cravings.
The brain also contains a bonding chemical: Oxytocin. During labour, female brains produce large amounts of oxytocin, which stimulates contractions and smooths the passage of the baby down the birth canal. Oxytocin also creates a primal, intense bond with the child. Adults in love (or during ecstatic sex) also release high levels of oxytocin.
Posted by John Eaton on April 18, 2010 at 06:50 PM in Addictions, Aging, Brain, Cellular memories, Happiness, Health, Psychology, The Brain | Permalink
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
How Scientific Is Modern Medicine Really?
by Dana Ullman
Expert in homeopathic medicine
Doctors today commonly assert that they practice "scientific medicine," and patients think that the medical treatments they receive are "scientifically proven." However, this ideal is a dream, not reality, and a clever and profitable marketing ruse, not fact.
The British Medical Journal's "Clinical Evidence" analyzed common medical treatments to evaluate which are supported by sufficient reliable evidence (BMJ, 2007). They reviewed approximately 2,500 treatments and found:
• 13 percent were found to be beneficial
• 23 percent were likely to be beneficial 13 percent were found to be beneficial
• Eight percent were as likely to be harmful as beneficial
• Six percent were unlikely to be beneficial
• Four percent were likely to be harmful or ineffective.
• 46 percent were unknown whether they were efficacious or harmful
In the late 1970s, the US government conducted a similar evaluation and found a strikingly similar result. They found that only 10 percent to 20 percent of medical treatment had evidence of efficacy (Office of Technology Assessment, 1978).
Doctors like to point to the "impressive" efficacy of their treatments in real serious diseases, like cancer, and doctors (and drug companies) are emphatic about asserting that anyone or any company that says (or even suggests) that they have a treatment that might help people with cancer are "quacks." However, do they maintain this same standard when evaluating their own treatments? Even a recent issue of Newsweek highlighted the fact that "We Fought Cancer, and Cancer Won" (Begley, 2010). Despite the truly massive amounts of money that doctors, hospitals and drug companies are effectively extracting from patients, employers, insurance companies and governments, we are certainly not getting our money's worth.
Even when there is "proven efficacy of treatment" in studies, the bigger question is how common is this proven efficacy utilized in medical care today? Be prepared to be shocked.
"Quackery" is commonly defined as the use of unproven treatments by individuals or companies who claim fantastic results and who charge large sums of money. Although modern physicians may point their collective finger at various "alternative" or "natural" treatment modalities as examples of quackery, it is conventional medical treatments today that are out-of-this-world expensive, and despite real questionable efficacy of their treatments, doctors give patients the guise of "science."
I certainly realize that many of us have benefited greatly from modern medicine, but I also realize that many of us have been hurt greatly from it too. The challenge for all of us is to determine how can we make modern medicine more "scientific," more effective and more safe. I have previously made clear that my own point of view on this subject is that we must develop a more "integrative model" of medicine and healing and that we should utilize various Naturopathic and homeopathic methods as a way to honor the Hippocratic tradition of "First, do no harm."
Sadly, however, it seems that too few doctors understand or respect this Hippocratic dictum.
Today in America, every man, woman, and child is prescribed around 13 prescription drugs per year (and this doesn't count the many over-the-counter drugs that doctors prescribe and that patients take on their own) (Kaiser, 2006). Just 12 years earlier, Americans were on average prescribed less than eight drugs per person, a 62 percent increase! The fact of the matter is that drugs are not tested for approval in conjunction with other drugs, and the safety and efficacy of the use of multiple drugs together remains totally unknown.
This practice of "polypharmacy" is increasing substantially, and Big Pharma is pushing it hard and benefiting from it in a big big way.
According to a 2008 nationwide survey, 29 percent of Americans used at least five prescription medications concurrently (Qato, Alexander, Conti, 2008), while just three years previously, 17 percent took three or more prescription drugs (Medscape, 2005). Even conservative publications such as Scientific American can no longer deny the increasing serious problems from pharmaceuticals. A recent article highlighted the fact that there has been a 65 percent increase in drug overdoses leading to hospitalization or death just in the past seven years (Harmon, 2010).
Are Our Children and Elders Safe? Not at all.
We all want drugs given to infants to be as safe as possible, but mothers and fathers will be surprised and perhaps shocked to know that very few drugs are ever tested on infants. A 2007 study of over 350,000 children found that a shocking 78.7 percent of children in hospitals are prescribed drugs that the FDA has not even approved for use in children (Shah, Hall, Goodman, et al, 2007). If this isn't shocking enough, a survey in England found that 90 percent of infants were prescribed drugs that were not tested for safety or efficacy in infants (Conroy, McIntyre, Choonara, 1999).
There is almost a 350 percent increase in adverse drug reactions in children prescribed an off-label drug than children who were prescribed a drug that had been tested for safety and efficacy (Horen, Montastruc, and Lapeyre-mestre, 2002). Doctors are committing "medical child abuse" on a regular basis (I wrote a more detailed article about this subject, here).
An even stronger case can be made for the epidemic of "elder medical abuse" due to the much larger number of drugs prescribed to and for our senior citizens. It is no wonder that so many of them have become mental zombies, while Big Pharma profits big time and insurance companies simply raise their rates.
If we were living a lot longer and the quality of our lives was improved by medical care, one could make a case for why today's medical care is providing more benefits than problems, but this is simply not true.
Although we are commonly told that we are living longer than ever now, this is simply a clever, even tricky, use of statistics. The fact of the matter is that there has been a considerable reduction in deaths during the first five years of life ... and this reduction in deaths has resulted primarily from a medicinal agent called "soap," not from the use of any specific conventional pharmaceutical agent.
Ultimately, an American who was 40 years old in 1900 and an American who was 40 years old in 2000 has a similar chance of living to 80 years old today.
Big Pharma, Big Bucks, and the Guise of Science
Adherents of conventional medicine have consistently asserted that its methods are scientifically verified, and they have ridiculed other methods that are suggested to have therapeutic or curative effects. In fact, conventional physicians have consistently worked to disallow competitors, even viciously attacking those in their own profession who have questioned conventional treatments or provided alternative modalities. More recently, medical organizations simply work with insurance companies to help them determine what should and shouldn't get reimbursed, a clever way to kill competition bloodlessly.
And yet, strangely enough, whatever has been in vogue in conventional medicine in one decade has been declared ineffective, dangerous and sometimes barbaric in the ensuing decades. Surprisingly, despite this pattern in history, proponents and defenders of "scientific medicine" tend to have little or no humility, continually asserting that today's cure is truly effective ... and in any case, strongly asserting that any "alternatives" to this ever-changing treatment are quackery, sheer quackery, whether they know anything about these alternative treatment modalities or not.
The good news about conventional medicine and one of its remarkable features for which it should be honored is its history of consistently and repeatedly disproving its own treatments. The fact that only a handful of conventional drugs have survived 30 or more years is strong testament to the fact that conventional medicine is honorable enough to acknowledge its mistakes. But then again, because drug patents only last for a certain limited period of time, there are real substantial benefits when drugs have a relatively short lifespan. Big Pharma can charge big money during this time-frame, and then, let go of it when it goes off-patent, at which time a new, high-priced drug is conveniently developed to replace it. Like the fashion industry, medical fashion changes with rapidity, supporting a powerful economic arms race.
In 2002, the combined profits ($35.9 billion) of the 10 largest drug companies in the Fortune 500 were more than the combined profits ($33.7 billion) of the remaining 490 companies together (Angell, 2004, 11).
The only reason these drug companies did not maintain this shocking financial advantage is that the oil companies' profits have increased considerably with the Iraq War, thus raising the 490 non-drug companies' profits slightly higher. But then again, one would assume that the profits of 490 of the largest companies in the world would be substantially more than just 10 companies in one commercial field.
This economic information is important, even essential, because learning how to separate the "science" of medicine from the business of medicine has never been more difficult. The combined efforts of the drug companies and the medical profession, which together may be called the "medical-industrial complex," have been wonderfully effective in convincing consumers worldwide that modern medicine is the most scientific discipline that has ever existed.
Physicians today rarely run drug companies. Instead, businessmen run them. It is, therefore, not surprising that Marcia Angell, MD, a Harvard professor of medicine and former editor of the famed New England Journal of Medicine, wrote:
Over the past two decades the pharmaceutical industry has moved very far from its original high purpose of discovering and producing useful new drugs ... Now primarily a marketing machine to sell drugs of dubious benefit, this industry uses its wealth and power to co-opt every institution that might stand in its way, including the US Congress, the FDA, academic medical centers, and the medical profession itself. (Levi, 2006)
There is big big money to be made in drug sales, and brilliant marketing has led too many of us to ignore or excuse this bully side of medicine.
The New York Times recently uncovered the fact that Pfizer admitted to paying $20 million in the last six months of 2009 alone to 4,500 doctors to "consultation" and to speak on their behalf (and this doesn't include payments to doctors outside of the US) (Duff, 2010). It seems to be time to stop calling them "drug companies" and call them "drug pushers."
Yes, a gorilla is in the house, but anyone who refers to him as a gorilla is usually called a quack or a crank. This gorilla was not born yesterday; he has been growing for generations. A part of his self-defense propensities is to eliminate competing forces, whether the other side seeks cooperation or not. Any competitive force is frequently and soundly attacked.
The history of homeopathy shows this dark side of medicine. From 1860 to the early 20th century, the AMA had a consultation clause in its code of ethics that members were not allowed to consult with a medical doctor who practiced homeopathy and weren't even allowed to treat a homeopath's patients. At a time in medical history when doctors bloodlet their patients to death and regularly prescribed mercury and various caustic agents to sick people, the only action that the AMA considered reprehensible and actionable was the "crime" of consulting with a homeopath.
In fact, the entire Medical Society of New York was kicked out of the AMA in 1881 simply because this state's medical organization admitted into its membership any medical doctors who utilized homeopathic medicines, no matter what their academic credentials were. They only rejoined the AMA 25 years later (Walsh, 1907, 207).
This King Kong, however, is not a monster to everyone. In fact, this big gorilla is wonderfully generous to executives, to large sales and marketing forces, to supportive politicians and to the media from whom he buys substantial amounts of advertising (and thus, an incredible amount of positive media coverage). And this gorilla is wonderfully generous to stockholders. While it may seem inappropriate to criticize profits, it is important and appropriate to do so when profits are unbelievably excessive, when long-term efficacy hasn't stood the test of time, and when common use of more than one drug at a time is rarely if ever scientifically tested for efficacy.
Although these observations just mentioned may seem harsh and offensive to some people, they are made with the concurrent acknowledgment that most of us know someone whose life was saved or at least whose health was significantly restored by conventional medical treatments. I myself am the son of a fabulous father who was a physician and insulin-dependent diabetic. In other words, I would not be alive today if it were not for some important conventional medical discoveries such as insulin.
We should not "throw the baby out with the bathwater," nor do we want to ignore the bathwater in which we place our babies. Most of us also know someone whose health has been seriously hurt, or whose life was cut short, by modern medical treatments.
Drug companies defend their large profits by asserting that they spend tremendous amounts of money on research and development, but they tend to hide the fact that they spend approximately three times more money on marketing and administration. And the obscenely high profits of the drug companies take into account all known expenses. Ultimately, drug companies are wonderfully creative in convincing us all that their drug treatments are "scientific," and too many of us actually believe them.
It is therefore important to understand what is truly meant when drug companies and the media assert that drugs are "scientifically proven."(to be discussed in PART II)
(NOTE: This article focuses on the issue of the amount of "science" in medical care today. I predict that many commenters below will choose to attack me or the subject of homeopathy, even though THIS is not the subject of this article. I sincerely hope that commenters will stick to the subject at hand. For those of you who wish to comment on homeopathic medicine research, I urge you to do so at articles on that subject.)
References
Angell, M. The Truth about Drug Companies. New York: Random House, 2004. This fact is extremely startling, but the source is reputable: Marcia Angell, MD, is former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Begley, Sharon. "We Fought Cancer, and Cancer Won," Newsweek, September 15, 2008. http://www.newsweek.com/id/157548
BMJ, 2007. http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/index.jsp; http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/knowledge.jsp
Conroy S, McIntyre J, Choonara I. Unlicensed and off label drug use in neonates. Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition 1999;80:F142-F145. doi:10.1136/fn.80.2.F142
Consumer Reports, "High Anxiety." January 1993, 19-24.
Darwin, F. (ed.). The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin. New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1903.
Dima M. Qato; G. Caleb Alexander; Rena M. Conti; Michael Johnson; Phil Schumm; Stacy Tessler Lindau. "Use of Prescription and Over-the-counter Medications and Dietary Supplements Among Older Adults in the United States." JAMA. 2008;300(24):2867-2878. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/300/24/2867
Horen B, Montastruc JL, and Lapeyre-mestre M. "Adverse drug reactions and off-label drug use in paediatric outpatients." Br J Clin Pharmacol. 54(6); Dec 2002, 665-670. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2125.2002.t01-3-01689.x.
Harmon K. Prescription Drug Deaths Increase Dramatically, Scientific American. April 6, 2010. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=prescription-drug-deaths
Kaiser Family Foundation, Prescription Drug Trends, June 2006. http://www.kff.org/rxdrugs/upload/3057-05.pdf
InfoPlease.com. www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004393.html, 2007.
"Levi, R. Science Is for Sale," Skeptical Inquirer, July/August 2006, 30:4, 44-46.
Medscape, More Americans Take Prescription Medication. May 3, 2005.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/500164
Office of Technology Assessment, 1978. http://www.fas.org/ota/reports/7805.pdf
"Roberts, W. H. Orthodoxy vs. homeopathy: Ironic developments following the Flexner Report at the Ohio State University," Bulletin on the History of Medicine, Spring 1986, 60:1, 73-87.
Shah SS, Hall M, Goodman DM, et al. "Off-label Drug Use in Hospitalized Children." Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(3):282-290.
Walsh, J. J. History of the Medical Society of the State of New York. New York: Medical Society of the State of New York, 1907.
Wilson, Duff. Pfizer Gets Details on Payments to Doctors, New York Times, March 31, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/business/01payments.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Dana Ullman, MPH, is America's leading spokesperson for homeopathy and is the founder of www.homeopathic.com. He is the author of 10 books, including his bestseller, Everybody's Guide to Homeopathic Medicines. His most recent book is, The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy. Dana lives, practices, and writes from Berkeley, California.
Expert in homeopathic medicine
Doctors today commonly assert that they practice "scientific medicine," and patients think that the medical treatments they receive are "scientifically proven." However, this ideal is a dream, not reality, and a clever and profitable marketing ruse, not fact.
The British Medical Journal's "Clinical Evidence" analyzed common medical treatments to evaluate which are supported by sufficient reliable evidence (BMJ, 2007). They reviewed approximately 2,500 treatments and found:
• 13 percent were found to be beneficial
• 23 percent were likely to be beneficial 13 percent were found to be beneficial
• Eight percent were as likely to be harmful as beneficial
• Six percent were unlikely to be beneficial
• Four percent were likely to be harmful or ineffective.
• 46 percent were unknown whether they were efficacious or harmful
In the late 1970s, the US government conducted a similar evaluation and found a strikingly similar result. They found that only 10 percent to 20 percent of medical treatment had evidence of efficacy (Office of Technology Assessment, 1978).
Doctors like to point to the "impressive" efficacy of their treatments in real serious diseases, like cancer, and doctors (and drug companies) are emphatic about asserting that anyone or any company that says (or even suggests) that they have a treatment that might help people with cancer are "quacks." However, do they maintain this same standard when evaluating their own treatments? Even a recent issue of Newsweek highlighted the fact that "We Fought Cancer, and Cancer Won" (Begley, 2010). Despite the truly massive amounts of money that doctors, hospitals and drug companies are effectively extracting from patients, employers, insurance companies and governments, we are certainly not getting our money's worth.
Even when there is "proven efficacy of treatment" in studies, the bigger question is how common is this proven efficacy utilized in medical care today? Be prepared to be shocked.
"Quackery" is commonly defined as the use of unproven treatments by individuals or companies who claim fantastic results and who charge large sums of money. Although modern physicians may point their collective finger at various "alternative" or "natural" treatment modalities as examples of quackery, it is conventional medical treatments today that are out-of-this-world expensive, and despite real questionable efficacy of their treatments, doctors give patients the guise of "science."
I certainly realize that many of us have benefited greatly from modern medicine, but I also realize that many of us have been hurt greatly from it too. The challenge for all of us is to determine how can we make modern medicine more "scientific," more effective and more safe. I have previously made clear that my own point of view on this subject is that we must develop a more "integrative model" of medicine and healing and that we should utilize various Naturopathic and homeopathic methods as a way to honor the Hippocratic tradition of "First, do no harm."
Sadly, however, it seems that too few doctors understand or respect this Hippocratic dictum.
Today in America, every man, woman, and child is prescribed around 13 prescription drugs per year (and this doesn't count the many over-the-counter drugs that doctors prescribe and that patients take on their own) (Kaiser, 2006). Just 12 years earlier, Americans were on average prescribed less than eight drugs per person, a 62 percent increase! The fact of the matter is that drugs are not tested for approval in conjunction with other drugs, and the safety and efficacy of the use of multiple drugs together remains totally unknown.
This practice of "polypharmacy" is increasing substantially, and Big Pharma is pushing it hard and benefiting from it in a big big way.
According to a 2008 nationwide survey, 29 percent of Americans used at least five prescription medications concurrently (Qato, Alexander, Conti, 2008), while just three years previously, 17 percent took three or more prescription drugs (Medscape, 2005). Even conservative publications such as Scientific American can no longer deny the increasing serious problems from pharmaceuticals. A recent article highlighted the fact that there has been a 65 percent increase in drug overdoses leading to hospitalization or death just in the past seven years (Harmon, 2010).
Are Our Children and Elders Safe? Not at all.
We all want drugs given to infants to be as safe as possible, but mothers and fathers will be surprised and perhaps shocked to know that very few drugs are ever tested on infants. A 2007 study of over 350,000 children found that a shocking 78.7 percent of children in hospitals are prescribed drugs that the FDA has not even approved for use in children (Shah, Hall, Goodman, et al, 2007). If this isn't shocking enough, a survey in England found that 90 percent of infants were prescribed drugs that were not tested for safety or efficacy in infants (Conroy, McIntyre, Choonara, 1999).
There is almost a 350 percent increase in adverse drug reactions in children prescribed an off-label drug than children who were prescribed a drug that had been tested for safety and efficacy (Horen, Montastruc, and Lapeyre-mestre, 2002). Doctors are committing "medical child abuse" on a regular basis (I wrote a more detailed article about this subject, here).
An even stronger case can be made for the epidemic of "elder medical abuse" due to the much larger number of drugs prescribed to and for our senior citizens. It is no wonder that so many of them have become mental zombies, while Big Pharma profits big time and insurance companies simply raise their rates.
If we were living a lot longer and the quality of our lives was improved by medical care, one could make a case for why today's medical care is providing more benefits than problems, but this is simply not true.
Although we are commonly told that we are living longer than ever now, this is simply a clever, even tricky, use of statistics. The fact of the matter is that there has been a considerable reduction in deaths during the first five years of life ... and this reduction in deaths has resulted primarily from a medicinal agent called "soap," not from the use of any specific conventional pharmaceutical agent.
Ultimately, an American who was 40 years old in 1900 and an American who was 40 years old in 2000 has a similar chance of living to 80 years old today.
Big Pharma, Big Bucks, and the Guise of Science
Adherents of conventional medicine have consistently asserted that its methods are scientifically verified, and they have ridiculed other methods that are suggested to have therapeutic or curative effects. In fact, conventional physicians have consistently worked to disallow competitors, even viciously attacking those in their own profession who have questioned conventional treatments or provided alternative modalities. More recently, medical organizations simply work with insurance companies to help them determine what should and shouldn't get reimbursed, a clever way to kill competition bloodlessly.
And yet, strangely enough, whatever has been in vogue in conventional medicine in one decade has been declared ineffective, dangerous and sometimes barbaric in the ensuing decades. Surprisingly, despite this pattern in history, proponents and defenders of "scientific medicine" tend to have little or no humility, continually asserting that today's cure is truly effective ... and in any case, strongly asserting that any "alternatives" to this ever-changing treatment are quackery, sheer quackery, whether they know anything about these alternative treatment modalities or not.
The good news about conventional medicine and one of its remarkable features for which it should be honored is its history of consistently and repeatedly disproving its own treatments. The fact that only a handful of conventional drugs have survived 30 or more years is strong testament to the fact that conventional medicine is honorable enough to acknowledge its mistakes. But then again, because drug patents only last for a certain limited period of time, there are real substantial benefits when drugs have a relatively short lifespan. Big Pharma can charge big money during this time-frame, and then, let go of it when it goes off-patent, at which time a new, high-priced drug is conveniently developed to replace it. Like the fashion industry, medical fashion changes with rapidity, supporting a powerful economic arms race.
In 2002, the combined profits ($35.9 billion) of the 10 largest drug companies in the Fortune 500 were more than the combined profits ($33.7 billion) of the remaining 490 companies together (Angell, 2004, 11).
The only reason these drug companies did not maintain this shocking financial advantage is that the oil companies' profits have increased considerably with the Iraq War, thus raising the 490 non-drug companies' profits slightly higher. But then again, one would assume that the profits of 490 of the largest companies in the world would be substantially more than just 10 companies in one commercial field.
This economic information is important, even essential, because learning how to separate the "science" of medicine from the business of medicine has never been more difficult. The combined efforts of the drug companies and the medical profession, which together may be called the "medical-industrial complex," have been wonderfully effective in convincing consumers worldwide that modern medicine is the most scientific discipline that has ever existed.
Physicians today rarely run drug companies. Instead, businessmen run them. It is, therefore, not surprising that Marcia Angell, MD, a Harvard professor of medicine and former editor of the famed New England Journal of Medicine, wrote:
Over the past two decades the pharmaceutical industry has moved very far from its original high purpose of discovering and producing useful new drugs ... Now primarily a marketing machine to sell drugs of dubious benefit, this industry uses its wealth and power to co-opt every institution that might stand in its way, including the US Congress, the FDA, academic medical centers, and the medical profession itself. (Levi, 2006)
There is big big money to be made in drug sales, and brilliant marketing has led too many of us to ignore or excuse this bully side of medicine.
The New York Times recently uncovered the fact that Pfizer admitted to paying $20 million in the last six months of 2009 alone to 4,500 doctors to "consultation" and to speak on their behalf (and this doesn't include payments to doctors outside of the US) (Duff, 2010). It seems to be time to stop calling them "drug companies" and call them "drug pushers."
Yes, a gorilla is in the house, but anyone who refers to him as a gorilla is usually called a quack or a crank. This gorilla was not born yesterday; he has been growing for generations. A part of his self-defense propensities is to eliminate competing forces, whether the other side seeks cooperation or not. Any competitive force is frequently and soundly attacked.
The history of homeopathy shows this dark side of medicine. From 1860 to the early 20th century, the AMA had a consultation clause in its code of ethics that members were not allowed to consult with a medical doctor who practiced homeopathy and weren't even allowed to treat a homeopath's patients. At a time in medical history when doctors bloodlet their patients to death and regularly prescribed mercury and various caustic agents to sick people, the only action that the AMA considered reprehensible and actionable was the "crime" of consulting with a homeopath.
In fact, the entire Medical Society of New York was kicked out of the AMA in 1881 simply because this state's medical organization admitted into its membership any medical doctors who utilized homeopathic medicines, no matter what their academic credentials were. They only rejoined the AMA 25 years later (Walsh, 1907, 207).
This King Kong, however, is not a monster to everyone. In fact, this big gorilla is wonderfully generous to executives, to large sales and marketing forces, to supportive politicians and to the media from whom he buys substantial amounts of advertising (and thus, an incredible amount of positive media coverage). And this gorilla is wonderfully generous to stockholders. While it may seem inappropriate to criticize profits, it is important and appropriate to do so when profits are unbelievably excessive, when long-term efficacy hasn't stood the test of time, and when common use of more than one drug at a time is rarely if ever scientifically tested for efficacy.
Although these observations just mentioned may seem harsh and offensive to some people, they are made with the concurrent acknowledgment that most of us know someone whose life was saved or at least whose health was significantly restored by conventional medical treatments. I myself am the son of a fabulous father who was a physician and insulin-dependent diabetic. In other words, I would not be alive today if it were not for some important conventional medical discoveries such as insulin.
We should not "throw the baby out with the bathwater," nor do we want to ignore the bathwater in which we place our babies. Most of us also know someone whose health has been seriously hurt, or whose life was cut short, by modern medical treatments.
Drug companies defend their large profits by asserting that they spend tremendous amounts of money on research and development, but they tend to hide the fact that they spend approximately three times more money on marketing and administration. And the obscenely high profits of the drug companies take into account all known expenses. Ultimately, drug companies are wonderfully creative in convincing us all that their drug treatments are "scientific," and too many of us actually believe them.
It is therefore important to understand what is truly meant when drug companies and the media assert that drugs are "scientifically proven."(to be discussed in PART II)
(NOTE: This article focuses on the issue of the amount of "science" in medical care today. I predict that many commenters below will choose to attack me or the subject of homeopathy, even though THIS is not the subject of this article. I sincerely hope that commenters will stick to the subject at hand. For those of you who wish to comment on homeopathic medicine research, I urge you to do so at articles on that subject.)
References
Angell, M. The Truth about Drug Companies. New York: Random House, 2004. This fact is extremely startling, but the source is reputable: Marcia Angell, MD, is former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Begley, Sharon. "We Fought Cancer, and Cancer Won," Newsweek, September 15, 2008. http://www.newsweek.com/id/157548
BMJ, 2007. http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/index.jsp; http://clinicalevidence.bmj.com/ceweb/about/knowledge.jsp
Conroy S, McIntyre J, Choonara I. Unlicensed and off label drug use in neonates. Archives of Disease in Childhood - Fetal and Neonatal Edition 1999;80:F142-F145. doi:10.1136/fn.80.2.F142
Consumer Reports, "High Anxiety." January 1993, 19-24.
Darwin, F. (ed.). The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin. New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1903.
Dima M. Qato; G. Caleb Alexander; Rena M. Conti; Michael Johnson; Phil Schumm; Stacy Tessler Lindau. "Use of Prescription and Over-the-counter Medications and Dietary Supplements Among Older Adults in the United States." JAMA. 2008;300(24):2867-2878. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/300/24/2867
Horen B, Montastruc JL, and Lapeyre-mestre M. "Adverse drug reactions and off-label drug use in paediatric outpatients." Br J Clin Pharmacol. 54(6); Dec 2002, 665-670. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2125.2002.t01-3-01689.x.
Harmon K. Prescription Drug Deaths Increase Dramatically, Scientific American. April 6, 2010. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=prescription-drug-deaths
Kaiser Family Foundation, Prescription Drug Trends, June 2006. http://www.kff.org/rxdrugs/upload/3057-05.pdf
InfoPlease.com. www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004393.html, 2007.
"Levi, R. Science Is for Sale," Skeptical Inquirer, July/August 2006, 30:4, 44-46.
Medscape, More Americans Take Prescription Medication. May 3, 2005.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/500164
Office of Technology Assessment, 1978. http://www.fas.org/ota/reports/7805.pdf
"Roberts, W. H. Orthodoxy vs. homeopathy: Ironic developments following the Flexner Report at the Ohio State University," Bulletin on the History of Medicine, Spring 1986, 60:1, 73-87.
Shah SS, Hall M, Goodman DM, et al. "Off-label Drug Use in Hospitalized Children." Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2007;161(3):282-290.
Walsh, J. J. History of the Medical Society of the State of New York. New York: Medical Society of the State of New York, 1907.
Wilson, Duff. Pfizer Gets Details on Payments to Doctors, New York Times, March 31, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/business/01payments.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Dana Ullman, MPH, is America's leading spokesperson for homeopathy and is the founder of www.homeopathic.com. He is the author of 10 books, including his bestseller, Everybody's Guide to Homeopathic Medicines. His most recent book is, The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy. Dana lives, practices, and writes from Berkeley, California.
Vitamin D Supplementation Associated With Reduced Cardiovascular Risk
There is a simple blood test which your doctor can order for you to determine your Vitamin D level. Have this done and if your levels are lower than the range, then supplement with Vitamin D-3 under the guidance of your doctor, preferably a Naturopathic doctor who understands supplementation.
Dr. Mike
By Walter Alexander
ATLANTA -- March 22, 2010 -- Vitamin D supplementation should be considered for individuals with deficient levels, based on evidence that normalising those levels reduces cardiovascular risk, researchers said here at the 59th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology (ACC).
Joseph Muhlestein, MD, Intermountain Medical Center, Murray, Utah, and colleagues analysed data from 27,686 Utah residents who were followed for an average of 1.3 years. Data showed that patients with very low levels of vitamin D were 77% more likely to die, 45% more likely to develop coronary artery disease, and 78% more likely to have a stroke, as compared with individuals with normal vitamin D levels.
To test for causality, Dr. Muhlestein evaluated data from 9,491 of these patients with low initial vitamin D levels and with at least 1 recorded follow-up level. A total of 4,507 (47% of individuals) increased their vitamin D level to >30 ng/mL.
An adjusted Cox regression analysis tested for association between last follow-up vitamin D levels and death, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction (MI), congestive heart failure (CHF), stroke, and renal failure.
Significant differences in coronary artery disease (P = .04), heart failure (P = .04), and renal failure (P = .0001) were found when patients with very low vitamin D levels (10-19 ng/mL; n = 1,256) were compared with those with higher levels (>= 44 ng/ml ; n = 1,670). A strong trend towards increased death was also revealed (P = .06).
"Our data suggest that normalising deficient vitamin D levels is associated with reduced cardiovascular risk and suggest confirmation through clinical trials," said Dr. Muhlestein.
He noted further that a randomised National Institutes of Health primary prevention trial is ongoing with subjects receiving 2000 IU/day of vitamin D. He cautioned in an interview, however, that sometimes patients who are deficient need up to 5000 IU/day to normalise their vitamin D levels.
[Presentation title: Supplementing Deficient Vitamin D Levels is Associated with Reduced Cardiovascular Risk]
Dr. Mike
By Walter Alexander
ATLANTA -- March 22, 2010 -- Vitamin D supplementation should be considered for individuals with deficient levels, based on evidence that normalising those levels reduces cardiovascular risk, researchers said here at the 59th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology (ACC).
Joseph Muhlestein, MD, Intermountain Medical Center, Murray, Utah, and colleagues analysed data from 27,686 Utah residents who were followed for an average of 1.3 years. Data showed that patients with very low levels of vitamin D were 77% more likely to die, 45% more likely to develop coronary artery disease, and 78% more likely to have a stroke, as compared with individuals with normal vitamin D levels.
To test for causality, Dr. Muhlestein evaluated data from 9,491 of these patients with low initial vitamin D levels and with at least 1 recorded follow-up level. A total of 4,507 (47% of individuals) increased their vitamin D level to >30 ng/mL.
An adjusted Cox regression analysis tested for association between last follow-up vitamin D levels and death, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction (MI), congestive heart failure (CHF), stroke, and renal failure.
Significant differences in coronary artery disease (P = .04), heart failure (P = .04), and renal failure (P = .0001) were found when patients with very low vitamin D levels (10-19 ng/mL; n = 1,256) were compared with those with higher levels (>= 44 ng/ml ; n = 1,670). A strong trend towards increased death was also revealed (P = .06).
"Our data suggest that normalising deficient vitamin D levels is associated with reduced cardiovascular risk and suggest confirmation through clinical trials," said Dr. Muhlestein.
He noted further that a randomised National Institutes of Health primary prevention trial is ongoing with subjects receiving 2000 IU/day of vitamin D. He cautioned in an interview, however, that sometimes patients who are deficient need up to 5000 IU/day to normalise their vitamin D levels.
[Presentation title: Supplementing Deficient Vitamin D Levels is Associated with Reduced Cardiovascular Risk]
Friday, April 16, 2010
My 10 Favorite Supplements
As a doctor there are certain supplements which I find to be especially beneficial for people. These are not supplements which treat all conditions or just one condition. These are supplements which I find to be especially valuable in maintaining health. Of course there are other supplements which are extremely valuable in treating various conditions and I do not mean, by not having them on this list, that they are not of value. It's just that for the patients I've seen, these seems to be most helpful.
Some of these you may not have heard of, but I suggest you find out about them and see if they need to be worked into your supplement schedule.
So here goes: My 10 Favorite Supplements.
1.Reduced Glutathione: Glutathione is a sulfur bearing amino acid which is invaluable in protecting, detoxing the liver. The liver detoxes the liver in Phase 1 and Phase 2. Without going into too many details, Phase 2 is the final detoxification step the liver takes and there are six pathways it uses to remove toxins from the body. Each pathway uses a different molecule to activate the pathway. The most important pathway is the Glutathione pathway. This pathway detoxes up to 60 % of all toxins. It detoxes alcohol, chemicals and bacteria and if you do not consume enough Glutathione from fruits and vegetables, the Pathway will fail to operate efficiently and you will become toxic. You can take Glutathione orally, by injection or by IV. Orally you absorb about 25% of the dose, so you must take a high enough dose for it to work. I suggest 200mg a day. It must be "reduced glutathione" or it will not work. Look on the label and make sure it says "reduced". This is a critical supplement for anyone who drinks alcohol, has hepatitis B or C, or is overly toxic and wants to detoxify. Very important.
2.Alpha Lipoic Acid: ALA is very important as it is both water soluble and fat soluble. This means it is easily absorbed and can build up some level in your fat cells for use later. It is essential for detoxifying and protecting the liver. It is used in Germany as a prescription medication for use in diabetic neuropathy. It can be used with Glutathione to help with liver conditions, especially Hepatitis C. The only negative is after taking it your urine will have a unique smell like "maple syrup". This means it has been absorbed and is being used. I recommend 600 mg a day for most people, but have had patients on as much as 3,000 mg a day, depending on their condition. It is very safe and very useful.
3.Calcium - D- Glucurate. This is another supplement which helps the liver in Phase 2 detoxification. Cal.-D-Glucurate provides glucuronic acid for the Glucuronidation Pathway (one of the six Phase 2 pathways). It detoxifies excess estrogen. Many women have too much estrogen which leads to menstruation problems, fibrocystic breasts and sometimes breast cancer. Female sex hormones (Estrogen, Progesterone and Testosterone) all need to be in certain ratios at different times of their menstrual cycles. Often estrogen becomes too high, screws up the ratio and problems occur. Calcium D-Glucurate will provide the necessary glucuronic acid for the Glucuronidation Pathway to be able to break down estrogen so the ratio's are better balanced. I recommend 500 mg three times a day if this is something you need.
4.Garlic: Ah, yes, the old stand by...Garlic. My father swears by its miracle healing powers. Garlic can act as an antibacterial, antiviral, anti-fungal, lower blood pressure, help strengthen the cardiovascular system, lower cholesterol, and keep vampires away. There is almost nothing this wonderful herb cannot do. It is recommended to use the odorless kind such as Kyolic, or someone will accuse you of drinking alcohol and trying to hide the smell under garlic (this happened to me one time) and follow directions on the bottle for dosage as different dosages are used for different conditions.
5.Andrographis: I discovered this wonderful herb accidentally while using it in Chinese Medicine. It is unparalleled in fighting off colds and flu. When you first get symptoms, start taking andrographis three times a day for the first two days. Generally the cold or flu is stopped in it's tracks. I've never seen anything like it. We try to keep some around the house for good measure. There are other things it can do, but I use it solely for colds and flu.
6. Curcumin: Curcumin comes from the Indian spice Turmeric. It is an orange supplement with many excellent attributes. First it protects the liver. Including protection from cancer of the liver. If you have hepatitis, cirrhosis, toxic liver, curcumin is definitely for you. Studies are showing it can be used for other types of cancer also. It is a powerful anti-oxidant and will protect the body from the ravages of free radicals. It is an anti-inflammatory as effective as Prednisone only without the side effects which Prednisone brings along with it. It helps with digestion and with its anti-inflammatory properties can be used for colitis. Crohns disease and other bowel diseases. Lupus, Sjogrens disease, Fibromyalgia, RA, OA basically any inflammatory disease will benefit from this herb. It is an excellent supplement to keep in the house.
7.Reveratrol: Comes from red grapes and a few other plants, but more and more is learn frequently of this miracle supplement. It is anti-aging, anti-cancer, strengthens the body and mind and for immune suppressed people it can help improve the immune system. It will also decrease the "bad" cholesterol (VLDL VDL) and INCREASE the good cholesterol (HDL). It is an immune modulator. I had a patient with major depression, severe type 1 diabetes, hormonal dysfunction whom I placed on resveratrol and she swore it helped her in all areas and made life a little more worth living. It can be used for many conditions such as diabetes, heart conditions, fibromyalgia and mental issues, amongst others.
8.Milk Thistle. My old favorite and stand by is Milk Thistle. It helped save my wife's life when she came down with auto-immune hepatitis. It help her liver function again. It is the only known herb or medicine than has been proven to help the liver grow new hepatocytes (regrow liver cells). It is also helpful for kidney health. It should be used by anyone with liver problems...whether by alcohol abuse, drug usage, hepatitis, toxicity, auto-immune problems with the liver. It is a miracle herb. You can also grow it in your yard, eat the leaves in a salad, and after it flower collect the seeds and grid them up and place in oatmeal, grits or salads. Save some for replanting, though.
9. Melatonin: This is a hormone which is naturally produced in the Pineal glad (located in the brain) which is used to regulate your circadian rhythm (your sleep- wake cycle). If you suffer from insomnia it is a wonderful way to go to sleep without drugs such as Ambien. It also will reset your biological clock when you travel through various time-zones on business or vacation. It is known to help in high doses with cancer, with ITP (low blood platelets), and other medical conditions. But for just sleep it is safe, not habit forming and reliable. You will not wake up groggy the next morning.
10. Vitamin D: Vitamin D is not really a vitamin. It is a pro-hormone which means it is converted into a hormone with powerful actions. New studies show it will fight off the flu and colds (it was recommended for people to take when the swine flu threatened the universe this year). It is anti-cancer and can be used in cancer therapies, it helps with asthma, osteoporosis (it helps get calcium into the bone), protects the skin from sun damage, improves cardiovascular health and as it is being studied more and more benefits are being found out about this pro-hormone. Make sure to use the Vitamin D3 and not Vitamin D1 or 2.
So this is my list of my 10 favorite supplements, some are minerals, some vitamins, some herbs, some hormone but all exceedingly important to good health. If you are curious about these, simply Google these to find out more information. MY goal was to get your attention to these, your job is to do the leg work.
Best of Health.
Dr. Mike
Some of these you may not have heard of, but I suggest you find out about them and see if they need to be worked into your supplement schedule.
So here goes: My 10 Favorite Supplements.
1.Reduced Glutathione: Glutathione is a sulfur bearing amino acid which is invaluable in protecting, detoxing the liver. The liver detoxes the liver in Phase 1 and Phase 2. Without going into too many details, Phase 2 is the final detoxification step the liver takes and there are six pathways it uses to remove toxins from the body. Each pathway uses a different molecule to activate the pathway. The most important pathway is the Glutathione pathway. This pathway detoxes up to 60 % of all toxins. It detoxes alcohol, chemicals and bacteria and if you do not consume enough Glutathione from fruits and vegetables, the Pathway will fail to operate efficiently and you will become toxic. You can take Glutathione orally, by injection or by IV. Orally you absorb about 25% of the dose, so you must take a high enough dose for it to work. I suggest 200mg a day. It must be "reduced glutathione" or it will not work. Look on the label and make sure it says "reduced". This is a critical supplement for anyone who drinks alcohol, has hepatitis B or C, or is overly toxic and wants to detoxify. Very important.
2.Alpha Lipoic Acid: ALA is very important as it is both water soluble and fat soluble. This means it is easily absorbed and can build up some level in your fat cells for use later. It is essential for detoxifying and protecting the liver. It is used in Germany as a prescription medication for use in diabetic neuropathy. It can be used with Glutathione to help with liver conditions, especially Hepatitis C. The only negative is after taking it your urine will have a unique smell like "maple syrup". This means it has been absorbed and is being used. I recommend 600 mg a day for most people, but have had patients on as much as 3,000 mg a day, depending on their condition. It is very safe and very useful.
3.Calcium - D- Glucurate. This is another supplement which helps the liver in Phase 2 detoxification. Cal.-D-Glucurate provides glucuronic acid for the Glucuronidation Pathway (one of the six Phase 2 pathways). It detoxifies excess estrogen. Many women have too much estrogen which leads to menstruation problems, fibrocystic breasts and sometimes breast cancer. Female sex hormones (Estrogen, Progesterone and Testosterone) all need to be in certain ratios at different times of their menstrual cycles. Often estrogen becomes too high, screws up the ratio and problems occur. Calcium D-Glucurate will provide the necessary glucuronic acid for the Glucuronidation Pathway to be able to break down estrogen so the ratio's are better balanced. I recommend 500 mg three times a day if this is something you need.
4.Garlic: Ah, yes, the old stand by...Garlic. My father swears by its miracle healing powers. Garlic can act as an antibacterial, antiviral, anti-fungal, lower blood pressure, help strengthen the cardiovascular system, lower cholesterol, and keep vampires away. There is almost nothing this wonderful herb cannot do. It is recommended to use the odorless kind such as Kyolic, or someone will accuse you of drinking alcohol and trying to hide the smell under garlic (this happened to me one time) and follow directions on the bottle for dosage as different dosages are used for different conditions.
5.Andrographis: I discovered this wonderful herb accidentally while using it in Chinese Medicine. It is unparalleled in fighting off colds and flu. When you first get symptoms, start taking andrographis three times a day for the first two days. Generally the cold or flu is stopped in it's tracks. I've never seen anything like it. We try to keep some around the house for good measure. There are other things it can do, but I use it solely for colds and flu.
6. Curcumin: Curcumin comes from the Indian spice Turmeric. It is an orange supplement with many excellent attributes. First it protects the liver. Including protection from cancer of the liver. If you have hepatitis, cirrhosis, toxic liver, curcumin is definitely for you. Studies are showing it can be used for other types of cancer also. It is a powerful anti-oxidant and will protect the body from the ravages of free radicals. It is an anti-inflammatory as effective as Prednisone only without the side effects which Prednisone brings along with it. It helps with digestion and with its anti-inflammatory properties can be used for colitis. Crohns disease and other bowel diseases. Lupus, Sjogrens disease, Fibromyalgia, RA, OA basically any inflammatory disease will benefit from this herb. It is an excellent supplement to keep in the house.
7.Reveratrol: Comes from red grapes and a few other plants, but more and more is learn frequently of this miracle supplement. It is anti-aging, anti-cancer, strengthens the body and mind and for immune suppressed people it can help improve the immune system. It will also decrease the "bad" cholesterol (VLDL VDL) and INCREASE the good cholesterol (HDL). It is an immune modulator. I had a patient with major depression, severe type 1 diabetes, hormonal dysfunction whom I placed on resveratrol and she swore it helped her in all areas and made life a little more worth living. It can be used for many conditions such as diabetes, heart conditions, fibromyalgia and mental issues, amongst others.
8.Milk Thistle. My old favorite and stand by is Milk Thistle. It helped save my wife's life when she came down with auto-immune hepatitis. It help her liver function again. It is the only known herb or medicine than has been proven to help the liver grow new hepatocytes (regrow liver cells). It is also helpful for kidney health. It should be used by anyone with liver problems...whether by alcohol abuse, drug usage, hepatitis, toxicity, auto-immune problems with the liver. It is a miracle herb. You can also grow it in your yard, eat the leaves in a salad, and after it flower collect the seeds and grid them up and place in oatmeal, grits or salads. Save some for replanting, though.
9. Melatonin: This is a hormone which is naturally produced in the Pineal glad (located in the brain) which is used to regulate your circadian rhythm (your sleep- wake cycle). If you suffer from insomnia it is a wonderful way to go to sleep without drugs such as Ambien. It also will reset your biological clock when you travel through various time-zones on business or vacation. It is known to help in high doses with cancer, with ITP (low blood platelets), and other medical conditions. But for just sleep it is safe, not habit forming and reliable. You will not wake up groggy the next morning.
10. Vitamin D: Vitamin D is not really a vitamin. It is a pro-hormone which means it is converted into a hormone with powerful actions. New studies show it will fight off the flu and colds (it was recommended for people to take when the swine flu threatened the universe this year). It is anti-cancer and can be used in cancer therapies, it helps with asthma, osteoporosis (it helps get calcium into the bone), protects the skin from sun damage, improves cardiovascular health and as it is being studied more and more benefits are being found out about this pro-hormone. Make sure to use the Vitamin D3 and not Vitamin D1 or 2.
So this is my list of my 10 favorite supplements, some are minerals, some vitamins, some herbs, some hormone but all exceedingly important to good health. If you are curious about these, simply Google these to find out more information. MY goal was to get your attention to these, your job is to do the leg work.
Best of Health.
Dr. Mike
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Artificial pancreas works in 11 patients: study
Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO
Wed Apr 14, 2010 2:55pm EDT
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A test run of an "artificial pancreas" that monitors blood sugar and delivers both insulin and regulatory hormone called glucagon helped patients achieve near-normal blood sugar levels for more than 24 hours, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
Health
The system -- made up of a glucose monitor, two pumps and a laptop -- is designed to better mimic the body's natural mechanism of controlling both high and low blood sugar.
In previous tests of artificial pancreas systems that deliver only insulin, some patients have developed dangerously low blood sugar, known as hypoglycemia.
Adding small doses of glucagon, a hormone released by the pancreas to raise blood sugar levels, helped overcome this, according to the study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
After some adjustments to a sophisticated computer program that acts as the brain of the system, all 11 adults in the study had good blood sugar control without experiencing hypoglycemia, even after eating three high-carbohydrate meals.
"This is the first artificial pancreas device that has used both insulin and glucagon," said Dr. Steven Russell of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who helped lead the study.
The finding is the latest in what has become a race to develop a fully functioning artificial pancreas that can give patients with type 1 diabetes an automated way to control their blood sugar.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body destroys its own ability to make insulin, rendering sufferers unable to properly break down sugar. People with the condition must frequently monitor and take insulin to regulate blood sugar and prevent diabetic complications such as eye damage, kidney failure and heart disease.
Devices like continuous glucose monitors, such as those made by Medtronic or Abbott Laboratories, that constantly track blood sugar and pumps that inject insulin help, but patients still risk hypoglycemia.
That is where glucagon comes in, Russell said. In people with type 1 diabetes, glucagon does not work properly. Building this into the system helps balance out both the highs and the lows of blood sugar control.
SURPRISE FINDINGS
The system was developed in the lab of Edward Damiano, a biomedical engineer at Boston University whose son David developed type 1 diabetes when he was a year old.
Damiano's team developed the brains of the device, the computer program that constantly analyzes blood sugar and calculates when diabetics need a dose of insulin or glucagon.
Initial tests of the system revealed a surprise. While the computer program was based on recommended doses of the fast-acting insulin Humalog, made by Eli Lilly and Co, they discovered that many diabetics in their study process insulin much more slowly than expected.
Tweaks to the computer program fixed the problem but the issue demonstrates the complexities of treating diabetes.
In February, British researchers tested a similar system on 17 children and found it kept their blood sugar levels within the normal range for 60 percent of the time.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has teamed up with Johnson & Johnson's unit Animas, which makes insulin pumps, and DexCom Inc, which makes continuous glucose monitoring devices, to develop and test an artificial pancreas system.
CHICAGO
Wed Apr 14, 2010 2:55pm EDT
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A test run of an "artificial pancreas" that monitors blood sugar and delivers both insulin and regulatory hormone called glucagon helped patients achieve near-normal blood sugar levels for more than 24 hours, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
Health
The system -- made up of a glucose monitor, two pumps and a laptop -- is designed to better mimic the body's natural mechanism of controlling both high and low blood sugar.
In previous tests of artificial pancreas systems that deliver only insulin, some patients have developed dangerously low blood sugar, known as hypoglycemia.
Adding small doses of glucagon, a hormone released by the pancreas to raise blood sugar levels, helped overcome this, according to the study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
After some adjustments to a sophisticated computer program that acts as the brain of the system, all 11 adults in the study had good blood sugar control without experiencing hypoglycemia, even after eating three high-carbohydrate meals.
"This is the first artificial pancreas device that has used both insulin and glucagon," said Dr. Steven Russell of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who helped lead the study.
The finding is the latest in what has become a race to develop a fully functioning artificial pancreas that can give patients with type 1 diabetes an automated way to control their blood sugar.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body destroys its own ability to make insulin, rendering sufferers unable to properly break down sugar. People with the condition must frequently monitor and take insulin to regulate blood sugar and prevent diabetic complications such as eye damage, kidney failure and heart disease.
Devices like continuous glucose monitors, such as those made by Medtronic or Abbott Laboratories, that constantly track blood sugar and pumps that inject insulin help, but patients still risk hypoglycemia.
That is where glucagon comes in, Russell said. In people with type 1 diabetes, glucagon does not work properly. Building this into the system helps balance out both the highs and the lows of blood sugar control.
SURPRISE FINDINGS
The system was developed in the lab of Edward Damiano, a biomedical engineer at Boston University whose son David developed type 1 diabetes when he was a year old.
Damiano's team developed the brains of the device, the computer program that constantly analyzes blood sugar and calculates when diabetics need a dose of insulin or glucagon.
Initial tests of the system revealed a surprise. While the computer program was based on recommended doses of the fast-acting insulin Humalog, made by Eli Lilly and Co, they discovered that many diabetics in their study process insulin much more slowly than expected.
Tweaks to the computer program fixed the problem but the issue demonstrates the complexities of treating diabetes.
In February, British researchers tested a similar system on 17 children and found it kept their blood sugar levels within the normal range for 60 percent of the time.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has teamed up with Johnson & Johnson's unit Animas, which makes insulin pumps, and DexCom Inc, which makes continuous glucose monitoring devices, to develop and test an artificial pancreas system.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Generation 'could die before their parents' as avoidable health complaints soar
I had written an article last year about the baby boomers were going to die younger than their parent and for many reasons. We were the first generation to begin getting so many vaccines (which decreases your immune system, we were the first generation who's food were laced with pesticides, herbicides, chemicals, artificial flavorings , we were the first generation raised with microwave ovens for cooking our foods, the air is dirtier, the water almost undrinkable, and scientists keep playing around with various man-made virus's and bacteria to make weapons of mass destruction. I will wager that the average baby boomer will die 10 years before the age their parents died. All you have to do is check the obituary section of your newspaper and see how many people in their 40's and 50's are dying of cancer, heart attacks, and chronic diseases, etc.
Now the British Medical System is saying the children of Britain will be dieing even earlier for various reasons.
We are the only animal on earth who will soil their own bed and wallow in it. It is no wonder life expectancy is dropping and will dive over the next decade.
Read the article and learn and if you so choose go back and read my original article.
Dr. Mike
By Daily Mail Reporter
Today's children could die at a younger age than their parents as preventable diseases reach epidemic levels, the UK's leading hospitals warned today.
Doctors from Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital said the number of avoidable health complaints such as obesity and tooth decay were booming.
As a result they were spending an increasing amount of time dealing with avoidable conditions.
tooth decay
Around £1m and hundreds of hours are being spent each year on treating health complaints such as obesity and tooth decay
Dr Steve Ryan, medical director at Alder Hey, said: 'It just shouldn't be happening.
'These children should not be suffering from these problems and they should not be here at this hospital.
'People are starting to say maybe this is a generation where children will be dying before their parents.'
Alder Hey is one of Europe's biggest childrens hospitals, providing care for more than 200,000 children each year.
One of the areas most affected is the dental department. More than half of the 1,000 dental operations carried out each year are on children under the age of six.
Research has shown people with gum disease and tooth decay have a higher risk of heart disease.
Meanwhile between 500 to 1,000 children a year end up in hospital because they are exposed to their parents' smoking.
Another report predicted that eight out of 10 men and almost seven in 10 women will be overweight or obese by 2020.
BBC's Panorama programme 'Spoilt Rotten? claims around £1m and hundreds of hours of treatment time are being spent each year treating obesity, tooth decay, alcohol abuse and health complaints associated with passive smoking.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1265600/Generation-die-parents-avoidable-health-complaints-soar.html#ixzz0l5ZmsJfm
Now the British Medical System is saying the children of Britain will be dieing even earlier for various reasons.
We are the only animal on earth who will soil their own bed and wallow in it. It is no wonder life expectancy is dropping and will dive over the next decade.
Read the article and learn and if you so choose go back and read my original article.
Dr. Mike
By Daily Mail Reporter
Today's children could die at a younger age than their parents as preventable diseases reach epidemic levels, the UK's leading hospitals warned today.
Doctors from Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital said the number of avoidable health complaints such as obesity and tooth decay were booming.
As a result they were spending an increasing amount of time dealing with avoidable conditions.
tooth decay
Around £1m and hundreds of hours are being spent each year on treating health complaints such as obesity and tooth decay
Dr Steve Ryan, medical director at Alder Hey, said: 'It just shouldn't be happening.
'These children should not be suffering from these problems and they should not be here at this hospital.
'People are starting to say maybe this is a generation where children will be dying before their parents.'
Alder Hey is one of Europe's biggest childrens hospitals, providing care for more than 200,000 children each year.
One of the areas most affected is the dental department. More than half of the 1,000 dental operations carried out each year are on children under the age of six.
Research has shown people with gum disease and tooth decay have a higher risk of heart disease.
Meanwhile between 500 to 1,000 children a year end up in hospital because they are exposed to their parents' smoking.
Another report predicted that eight out of 10 men and almost seven in 10 women will be overweight or obese by 2020.
BBC's Panorama programme 'Spoilt Rotten? claims around £1m and hundreds of hours of treatment time are being spent each year treating obesity, tooth decay, alcohol abuse and health complaints associated with passive smoking.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1265600/Generation-die-parents-avoidable-health-complaints-soar.html#ixzz0l5ZmsJfm
Supplements Are Exempted From Codex Language in Food Safety Bill
What this article means is the US will not follow the Codex Alimentarius which is the law in Europe to regulate over the counter supplements. The theory is that the CA would regulate and standardize all vitamins, minerals, amino acids and supplements for sale in Europe. The idea had been that the US would also join the treaty. The theory sounds like a good idea as it makes sure you are getting what you pay for in the quantity you pay for, but in fact the CA can ban supplements even when it meets all the requirements. It means supplement sales would be regulated by the government. They would decide what supplements you could buy and take that decision completely away from the consumer. This is already happening in Europe.
Many people in the US have been fighting instituting this law here and it looks as if it has been defeated thanks to the Senators Harkin and Hatch. One of the problems Americans still face is unscrupulous manufacturers who take advantage of the self policing our supplement industry does. Many of these unscrupulous manufactures hide behind the pretense of selling by Multi-Level Marketing in which inferior products are sold by Ma and Pa Kettle and who have to buy their multi-level products and then try to sell them to their relatives, only to lose whatever money they invested. Even some OTC supplements are inferior. The consumer must be ever watchful and careful. They must learn about the companies and buy only from respected companies who try very hard to sell a good product. Remember cheaper is not better. Also purchasing your supplements from a Naturopathic Physician is safe because they sell only "Doctors" Brand supplements which absolutely meets high standards and costs about the same.
Read the article and learn about the Codex Alimentarius Act and when it comes up for passage again, perhaps you will be one who stands against it, too.
Dr. Mike
The FDA Food Modernization Act (S. 510), also referred to as the “Food Safety” bill, has been modified to exempt dietary supplements from language that otherwise creates a slippery slope toward U.S. harmonization with Codex Alimentarius. ANH-USA worked to protect the natural health community from this dangerous provision that threatened access to high quality, therapeutic supplement doses by working with key senators to modify the language, now for the second time.
The most worrisome provision of the bill initially required the Food and Drug Agency (FDA) to recommend that U.S. foreign Herbal supplements trading partners harmonize with Codex. This odd language was no doubt very intentional. How could we recommend harmonization to other countries if we rejected it for the U.S.? So in effect we were committing ourselves to a much more restrictive regulatory regime for supplements.
As the Senate moved forward with the Food Safety bill, Senator Harkin (D-IA), committee chair, working closely with Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), promised to see what could be done to make absolutely clear this legislation was not intended to impact our access to dietary supplements. At that time, Senator Harkin modified the Codex provision, asking the FDA to consider “whether and how” to recommend U.S. foreign trading partners harmonize. This was a very important change and a tremendous show of support from both Senators, but we were still concerned that the inclusion of Codex language in the bill could be used to support future U.S. harmonization with Codex standards on dietary supplements.
ANH-USA worked with our allies in the Senate over the past several months to include additional language providing stronger protection for supplements. New language has now been added specifically stating, “Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the regulation of dietary supplements.”
The Codex Alimentarius was initially developed to establish international food safety standards and regulate ingredients of food products. However, there is great concern that if the U.S. harmonizes with Codex standards, which are expected to follow Europe’s increasing ban on supplements, our access to supplements will be lost and even our food standards may be compromised. Although ANH-USA considers the new exemption a huge victory, it only applies to dietary supplements. The U.S. is still at risk of harmonization with other Codex food standards.
ANH-USA is especially grateful to Senators Harkin and Hatch for their leadership, continued dedication to the natural health community, and most recently, their show of support protecting our supplements from Codex harmonization. The Senate is expected to take up the Food Safety bill any day now. As the legislative process moves forward we will keep our members up to date on our efforts and where appropriate, we’ll ask for your help to protect supplements from increased government intrusion. The House version of the Food Safety bill, already passed, is especially worrisome. We will continue to make every effort, with your help, to ensure that the House version does not become law.
Many people in the US have been fighting instituting this law here and it looks as if it has been defeated thanks to the Senators Harkin and Hatch. One of the problems Americans still face is unscrupulous manufacturers who take advantage of the self policing our supplement industry does. Many of these unscrupulous manufactures hide behind the pretense of selling by Multi-Level Marketing in which inferior products are sold by Ma and Pa Kettle and who have to buy their multi-level products and then try to sell them to their relatives, only to lose whatever money they invested. Even some OTC supplements are inferior. The consumer must be ever watchful and careful. They must learn about the companies and buy only from respected companies who try very hard to sell a good product. Remember cheaper is not better. Also purchasing your supplements from a Naturopathic Physician is safe because they sell only "Doctors" Brand supplements which absolutely meets high standards and costs about the same.
Read the article and learn about the Codex Alimentarius Act and when it comes up for passage again, perhaps you will be one who stands against it, too.
Dr. Mike
The FDA Food Modernization Act (S. 510), also referred to as the “Food Safety” bill, has been modified to exempt dietary supplements from language that otherwise creates a slippery slope toward U.S. harmonization with Codex Alimentarius. ANH-USA worked to protect the natural health community from this dangerous provision that threatened access to high quality, therapeutic supplement doses by working with key senators to modify the language, now for the second time.
The most worrisome provision of the bill initially required the Food and Drug Agency (FDA) to recommend that U.S. foreign Herbal supplements trading partners harmonize with Codex. This odd language was no doubt very intentional. How could we recommend harmonization to other countries if we rejected it for the U.S.? So in effect we were committing ourselves to a much more restrictive regulatory regime for supplements.
As the Senate moved forward with the Food Safety bill, Senator Harkin (D-IA), committee chair, working closely with Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), promised to see what could be done to make absolutely clear this legislation was not intended to impact our access to dietary supplements. At that time, Senator Harkin modified the Codex provision, asking the FDA to consider “whether and how” to recommend U.S. foreign trading partners harmonize. This was a very important change and a tremendous show of support from both Senators, but we were still concerned that the inclusion of Codex language in the bill could be used to support future U.S. harmonization with Codex standards on dietary supplements.
ANH-USA worked with our allies in the Senate over the past several months to include additional language providing stronger protection for supplements. New language has now been added specifically stating, “Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the regulation of dietary supplements.”
The Codex Alimentarius was initially developed to establish international food safety standards and regulate ingredients of food products. However, there is great concern that if the U.S. harmonizes with Codex standards, which are expected to follow Europe’s increasing ban on supplements, our access to supplements will be lost and even our food standards may be compromised. Although ANH-USA considers the new exemption a huge victory, it only applies to dietary supplements. The U.S. is still at risk of harmonization with other Codex food standards.
ANH-USA is especially grateful to Senators Harkin and Hatch for their leadership, continued dedication to the natural health community, and most recently, their show of support protecting our supplements from Codex harmonization. The Senate is expected to take up the Food Safety bill any day now. As the legislative process moves forward we will keep our members up to date on our efforts and where appropriate, we’ll ask for your help to protect supplements from increased government intrusion. The House version of the Food Safety bill, already passed, is especially worrisome. We will continue to make every effort, with your help, to ensure that the House version does not become law.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The Hidden Dangers Of Black Mold
By Allison Kanaley Trudell
Published February 06, 2008
I have personally just experienced the joy of living in a rental home with black mold. I noticed one of our floors was buckling and called a plumber to check for a water leak under the house and he found four different leaks. The leaks must have been going on for years. A toxic cleanup crew was called in and all the floors and walls were ripped out cleaned with a bleach solution, dried for a week with high intensity heaters and finally put back together. One half of our house was sealed off with barriers to prevent the spread of the mold so we only lived in half of our house. It took two months of construction work to clean up and rebuild the damaged part of the house. The cost was over $13,000. In the meantime our dogs , my wife and I suffered severe allergies, coughing, headaches while the work was going on.
My advice is to stay on top of the condition of your house and called for help as soon as you suspect mold. Black mold is quite dangerous and quite expensive to remove, so the sooner you find it and get help for removing it, the better off you'll be.
I hope you enjoy this article.
Dr. Mike
Black mold - the often invisible, toxigenic substance - can grow inside homes, schools, and the workplace undetected for years and fueled by damp conditions. Exposure to mold increases the risk of health problems such as asthma, allergies, and even depression. According to a 1999 Mayo Clinic Study, nearly all chronic sinus infections sinus infections, which afflict 37 million Americans and are often mistaken for the common cold, are a result of mold exposure. Allergic reactions to molds are not seasonal, and can happen throughout the year. Use the following guide to find out how to spot mold as well as how to determine if your chronic health condition was caused by mold exposure.
Silent, Often Invisible, and Dangerous
Molds are often referred to as black mold, although color and composition vary. Some molds can be seen and touched, even ingested, and that can cause irritation. Generally speaking, mold grows where the air is humid. Most will not cause harm, but in large quantities, or when the conditions are right for the mold to produce toxins, adverse health conditions can result. Mold hides in places like cabinets, basements and crawl spaces, in drywall, and areas with water damage. Bathrooms and kitchens can be breeding ground for mold spores, because of water use and lack of proper ventilation. It may appear as mildew on a shower curtain. Yet some of the most dangerous types of mold are invisible, are airborne and go undetected, thereby lengthening exposure time and causing the most harmful health problems associated with mold.
Toxins can affect the body’s central nervous system as well as the immune system, and molds are in the toxin category. When the body is confronted with toxins, its functions are compromised, specifically those located in the frontal cortexfrontal cortex, where problem-solving, memory, and impulses are controlled.
Black mold - the often invisible, toxigenic substance - can grow inside homes, schools, and the workplace undetected for years and fueled by damp conditions. Exposure to mold increases the risk of health problems such as asthma, allergies, and even depression. According to a 1999 Mayo Clinic Study, nearly all chronic sinus infections sinus infections, which afflict 37 million Americans and are often mistaken for the common cold, are a result of mold exposure. Allergic reactions to molds are not seasonal, and can happen throughout the year. Use the following guide to find out how to spot mold as well as how to determine if your chronic health condition was caused by mold exposure.
Silent, Often Invisible, and Dangerous
Molds are often referred to as black mold, although color and composition vary. Some molds can be seen and touched, even ingested, and that can cause irritation. Generally speaking, mold grows where the air is humid. Most will not cause harm, but in large quantities, or when the conditions are right for the mold to produce toxins, adverse health conditions can result. Mold hides in places like cabinets, basements and crawl spaces, in drywall, and areas with water damage. Bathrooms and kitchens can be breeding ground for mold spores, because of water use and lack of proper ventilation. It may appear as mildew on a shower curtain. Yet some of the most dangerous types of mold are invisible, are airborne and go undetected, thereby lengthening exposure time and causing the most harmful health problems associated with mold.
Toxins can affect the body’s central nervous system as well as the immune system, and molds are in the toxin category. When the body is confronted with toxins, its functions are compromised, specifically those located in the frontal cortex frontal cortex, where problem-solving, memory, and impulses are controlled.
Who Is Affected By Mold?
Some people, simply because of genetic and chemical factors, are more sensitive to mold than others. Small amounts of mold may trigger a reaction in one person, and have no visible effect on another person in the same living space and under the same exposure. Age and general health can also be factors in reactions to mold. The elderly, those with compromised immune systems, those who already suffer from respiratory illnesses, and children may be more affected by mold than a healthy adult.
Physical signs of mold exposure can range from itchy, water eyes to asthma and airway problems. The body reacts to a mold that may not otherwise be toxic by exhibiting allergy-related symptoms, such as an irritated throat, coughing, or a runny nose. For some people, the reaction may be more severe, causing nausea, fatigue, sinus infections or trouble breathing. In more extreme cases, fungus can produce volatile organic compounds, which can affect the central nervous system and cause headaches, dizziness, difficulty concentrating difficulty concentrating and decreased attention span, according to www.toxic-black-mold-info.com. The Environmental Protection Agency also has information on mold and how to combat it and protect yourself and your home.
Documentation of the dangers of mold, the result of studies being undertaken by countries around the world, is pointing toward an increase in the prevalence of the health problems mold can cause, particularly in children.
When a child’s immune system, which is still maturing, is exposed to mold or anti-gensantigens, his or her body may react abnormally, creating problems with development. According to the National Institute of Environmental Sciences extreme exposure can result in death.
The Mold You Breathe
Taking in certain kinds of black mold through the nasal passages could kill cells needed for the body’s sense of smell, according to a 2006 study at Michigan State University’s Center for Integrative Toxicology. Researchers used mice for the study, and found that a toxin from the black mold spores caused damage to the nose and the front part of the brain, where the sense of smell registers.
The toxin found in black mold, also known as Stachybotrys chartarum, also irritated the nasal passages of the mice, which are similar in cell structure cell structure to humans. Since memory is triggered by the human body’s sense of smell, the potential for memory loss as a result of exposure to black mold logically follows.
Several infants died in Ohio in the mid-1990s from lung damage after they were found to be living in homes with high levels of mold. Their bleeding lungs were believed to have been damaged by something toxic in the air of their homes.
Mold May Affect Your Mood
A link between the body’s exposure to mold and depression was the topic of a study released in August 2007 by a research team at Brown University Brown University and published by the American Journal of Public Health.
While the researchers didn’t establish a direct connection between mold and the onset or risk of depression, they did find that people living in damp, moldy homes were more likely to suffer from depression, likely due to the health issues they faced as a result of their exposure to mold (fatigue, cold symptoms), and a mental health aspect: the perception of a lack of control over their housing environment, according to the study.
Methods for Preventing and Dealing With Mold
The best way to arm yourself against the health dangers of black mold is to do a visual inspection of your home (and then your workplace). Your nose may give you the first sign that there is a problem, however. Musty odors are a good sign that there is mold living somewhere.
If you do find mold, clean with a bleach solution and make sure the area is properly ventilated. Install fans in the bathrooms, and repair any pipes that leak. Windows, especially those in older homes, are notorious for mold build-up; the first sign of a problem may be condensation on the glass. Clean kitchen areas and bathrooms occasionally with a bleach solution. Use a humidifier in rooms where the air is moist, especially in the basement. And be sure to change the humidifier’s filter regularly, as mold can build up quickly on a damp surface. Empty the water between uses to prevent mold from building up on the water’s surface.
Black mold - the often invisible, toxigenic substance - can grow inside homes, schools, and the workplace undetected for years and fueled by damp conditions. Exposure to mold increases the risk of health problems such as asthma, allergies, and even depression. According to a 1999 Mayo Clinic Study, nearly all chronic sinus infections, which afflict 37 million Americans and are often mistaken for the common cold, are a result of mold exposure. Allergic reactions to molds are not seasonal, and can happen throughout the year. Use the following guide to find out how to spot mold as well as how to determine if your chronic health condition was caused by mold exposure.
While the researchers didn’t establish a direct connection between mold and the onset or risk of depression, they did find that people living in damp, moldy homes were more likely to suffer from depression, likely due to the health issues they faced as a result of their exposure to mold (fatigue, cold symptoms), and a mental health aspect: the perception of a lack of control over their housing environment, according to the study.
If you do find mold, clean with a bleach solution and make sure the area is properly ventilated. Install fans in the bathrooms, and repair any pipes that leak. Windows, especially those in older homes, are notorious for mold build-up; the first sign of a problem may be condensation on the glass. Clean kitchen areas and bathrooms occasionally with a bleach solution. Use a humidifier in rooms where the air is moist, especially in the basement. And be sure to change the humidifier’s filter regularly, as mold can build up quickly on a damp surface. Empty the water between uses to prevent mold from building up on the water’s surface.
Other places where mold is likely to grow: in areas that have flooded, water pipe leaks, leaky roofs, condensation on walls and ceilings (look for discoloration), windows, rust, peeling paint, tile grout, gutters, and warped wood. Homes with many house plants could be susceptible to mold growth; be careful not to over water. Check the ventilation of home appliances home appliances, such as dryers, which should be vented outside.
Air purification and filtration systems, which can range from reasonably priced to expensive depending on how elaborate the system is, are another option for homeowners and business owners. Central air conditioning with air filtration air filtration attachments are also available.
Mold tests are available at most home improvement stores, and allow for the testing of both air and tangible mold samples. But they may not give the whole story. There are companies who specialize in air quality diagnosis and rehabilitation, but they can be expensive. The Toxic Black Mold Information Center recommends trying to find the source of the mold on your own before taking any further steps.
Published February 06, 2008
I have personally just experienced the joy of living in a rental home with black mold. I noticed one of our floors was buckling and called a plumber to check for a water leak under the house and he found four different leaks. The leaks must have been going on for years. A toxic cleanup crew was called in and all the floors and walls were ripped out cleaned with a bleach solution, dried for a week with high intensity heaters and finally put back together. One half of our house was sealed off with barriers to prevent the spread of the mold so we only lived in half of our house. It took two months of construction work to clean up and rebuild the damaged part of the house. The cost was over $13,000. In the meantime our dogs , my wife and I suffered severe allergies, coughing, headaches while the work was going on.
My advice is to stay on top of the condition of your house and called for help as soon as you suspect mold. Black mold is quite dangerous and quite expensive to remove, so the sooner you find it and get help for removing it, the better off you'll be.
I hope you enjoy this article.
Dr. Mike
Black mold - the often invisible, toxigenic substance - can grow inside homes, schools, and the workplace undetected for years and fueled by damp conditions. Exposure to mold increases the risk of health problems such as asthma, allergies, and even depression. According to a 1999 Mayo Clinic Study, nearly all chronic sinus infections sinus infections, which afflict 37 million Americans and are often mistaken for the common cold, are a result of mold exposure. Allergic reactions to molds are not seasonal, and can happen throughout the year. Use the following guide to find out how to spot mold as well as how to determine if your chronic health condition was caused by mold exposure.
Silent, Often Invisible, and Dangerous
Molds are often referred to as black mold, although color and composition vary. Some molds can be seen and touched, even ingested, and that can cause irritation. Generally speaking, mold grows where the air is humid. Most will not cause harm, but in large quantities, or when the conditions are right for the mold to produce toxins, adverse health conditions can result. Mold hides in places like cabinets, basements and crawl spaces, in drywall, and areas with water damage. Bathrooms and kitchens can be breeding ground for mold spores, because of water use and lack of proper ventilation. It may appear as mildew on a shower curtain. Yet some of the most dangerous types of mold are invisible, are airborne and go undetected, thereby lengthening exposure time and causing the most harmful health problems associated with mold.
Toxins can affect the body’s central nervous system as well as the immune system, and molds are in the toxin category. When the body is confronted with toxins, its functions are compromised, specifically those located in the frontal cortexfrontal cortex, where problem-solving, memory, and impulses are controlled.
Black mold - the often invisible, toxigenic substance - can grow inside homes, schools, and the workplace undetected for years and fueled by damp conditions. Exposure to mold increases the risk of health problems such as asthma, allergies, and even depression. According to a 1999 Mayo Clinic Study, nearly all chronic sinus infections sinus infections, which afflict 37 million Americans and are often mistaken for the common cold, are a result of mold exposure. Allergic reactions to molds are not seasonal, and can happen throughout the year. Use the following guide to find out how to spot mold as well as how to determine if your chronic health condition was caused by mold exposure.
Silent, Often Invisible, and Dangerous
Molds are often referred to as black mold, although color and composition vary. Some molds can be seen and touched, even ingested, and that can cause irritation. Generally speaking, mold grows where the air is humid. Most will not cause harm, but in large quantities, or when the conditions are right for the mold to produce toxins, adverse health conditions can result. Mold hides in places like cabinets, basements and crawl spaces, in drywall, and areas with water damage. Bathrooms and kitchens can be breeding ground for mold spores, because of water use and lack of proper ventilation. It may appear as mildew on a shower curtain. Yet some of the most dangerous types of mold are invisible, are airborne and go undetected, thereby lengthening exposure time and causing the most harmful health problems associated with mold.
Toxins can affect the body’s central nervous system as well as the immune system, and molds are in the toxin category. When the body is confronted with toxins, its functions are compromised, specifically those located in the frontal cortex frontal cortex, where problem-solving, memory, and impulses are controlled.
Who Is Affected By Mold?
Some people, simply because of genetic and chemical factors, are more sensitive to mold than others. Small amounts of mold may trigger a reaction in one person, and have no visible effect on another person in the same living space and under the same exposure. Age and general health can also be factors in reactions to mold. The elderly, those with compromised immune systems, those who already suffer from respiratory illnesses, and children may be more affected by mold than a healthy adult.
Physical signs of mold exposure can range from itchy, water eyes to asthma and airway problems. The body reacts to a mold that may not otherwise be toxic by exhibiting allergy-related symptoms, such as an irritated throat, coughing, or a runny nose. For some people, the reaction may be more severe, causing nausea, fatigue, sinus infections or trouble breathing. In more extreme cases, fungus can produce volatile organic compounds, which can affect the central nervous system and cause headaches, dizziness, difficulty concentrating difficulty concentrating and decreased attention span, according to www.toxic-black-mold-info.com. The Environmental Protection Agency also has information on mold and how to combat it and protect yourself and your home.
Documentation of the dangers of mold, the result of studies being undertaken by countries around the world, is pointing toward an increase in the prevalence of the health problems mold can cause, particularly in children.
When a child’s immune system, which is still maturing, is exposed to mold or anti-gensantigens, his or her body may react abnormally, creating problems with development. According to the National Institute of Environmental Sciences extreme exposure can result in death.
The Mold You Breathe
Taking in certain kinds of black mold through the nasal passages could kill cells needed for the body’s sense of smell, according to a 2006 study at Michigan State University’s Center for Integrative Toxicology. Researchers used mice for the study, and found that a toxin from the black mold spores caused damage to the nose and the front part of the brain, where the sense of smell registers.
The toxin found in black mold, also known as Stachybotrys chartarum, also irritated the nasal passages of the mice, which are similar in cell structure cell structure to humans. Since memory is triggered by the human body’s sense of smell, the potential for memory loss as a result of exposure to black mold logically follows.
Several infants died in Ohio in the mid-1990s from lung damage after they were found to be living in homes with high levels of mold. Their bleeding lungs were believed to have been damaged by something toxic in the air of their homes.
Mold May Affect Your Mood
A link between the body’s exposure to mold and depression was the topic of a study released in August 2007 by a research team at Brown University Brown University and published by the American Journal of Public Health.
While the researchers didn’t establish a direct connection between mold and the onset or risk of depression, they did find that people living in damp, moldy homes were more likely to suffer from depression, likely due to the health issues they faced as a result of their exposure to mold (fatigue, cold symptoms), and a mental health aspect: the perception of a lack of control over their housing environment, according to the study.
Methods for Preventing and Dealing With Mold
The best way to arm yourself against the health dangers of black mold is to do a visual inspection of your home (and then your workplace). Your nose may give you the first sign that there is a problem, however. Musty odors are a good sign that there is mold living somewhere.
If you do find mold, clean with a bleach solution and make sure the area is properly ventilated. Install fans in the bathrooms, and repair any pipes that leak. Windows, especially those in older homes, are notorious for mold build-up; the first sign of a problem may be condensation on the glass. Clean kitchen areas and bathrooms occasionally with a bleach solution. Use a humidifier in rooms where the air is moist, especially in the basement. And be sure to change the humidifier’s filter regularly, as mold can build up quickly on a damp surface. Empty the water between uses to prevent mold from building up on the water’s surface.
Black mold - the often invisible, toxigenic substance - can grow inside homes, schools, and the workplace undetected for years and fueled by damp conditions. Exposure to mold increases the risk of health problems such as asthma, allergies, and even depression. According to a 1999 Mayo Clinic Study, nearly all chronic sinus infections, which afflict 37 million Americans and are often mistaken for the common cold, are a result of mold exposure. Allergic reactions to molds are not seasonal, and can happen throughout the year. Use the following guide to find out how to spot mold as well as how to determine if your chronic health condition was caused by mold exposure.
While the researchers didn’t establish a direct connection between mold and the onset or risk of depression, they did find that people living in damp, moldy homes were more likely to suffer from depression, likely due to the health issues they faced as a result of their exposure to mold (fatigue, cold symptoms), and a mental health aspect: the perception of a lack of control over their housing environment, according to the study.
If you do find mold, clean with a bleach solution and make sure the area is properly ventilated. Install fans in the bathrooms, and repair any pipes that leak. Windows, especially those in older homes, are notorious for mold build-up; the first sign of a problem may be condensation on the glass. Clean kitchen areas and bathrooms occasionally with a bleach solution. Use a humidifier in rooms where the air is moist, especially in the basement. And be sure to change the humidifier’s filter regularly, as mold can build up quickly on a damp surface. Empty the water between uses to prevent mold from building up on the water’s surface.
Other places where mold is likely to grow: in areas that have flooded, water pipe leaks, leaky roofs, condensation on walls and ceilings (look for discoloration), windows, rust, peeling paint, tile grout, gutters, and warped wood. Homes with many house plants could be susceptible to mold growth; be careful not to over water. Check the ventilation of home appliances home appliances, such as dryers, which should be vented outside.
Air purification and filtration systems, which can range from reasonably priced to expensive depending on how elaborate the system is, are another option for homeowners and business owners. Central air conditioning with air filtration air filtration attachments are also available.
Mold tests are available at most home improvement stores, and allow for the testing of both air and tangible mold samples. But they may not give the whole story. There are companies who specialize in air quality diagnosis and rehabilitation, but they can be expensive. The Toxic Black Mold Information Center recommends trying to find the source of the mold on your own before taking any further steps.
7 Best Bone-Building Foods
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
By Jill Weisenberger, MS, RD, CDE, LifeScript Nutrition Expert
Published February 19, 2009
Women start to lose bone mass in their 30s. But a good diet will lower the risk of a weak skeleton. Here are 7 foods that are great for your main frame. Plus, you can make up for diet deficiencies with supplements.
1. Seeds
Think of bone-building minerals and calcium first comes to mind. Our skeleton is largely made of calcium, but other minerals play a key role too. In fact, 50% of the body’s magnesium resides in our bones. Low levels are linked to fragile bones and calcium loss, research shows.
All seeds are good magnesium sources, but pumpkin seeds outshine the rest.
Here are a few ways to eat seeds:
# Measure a 1-ounce portion to take to work for an afternoon pick-me-up.
# Sprinkle a tablespoon or two onto your mixed green salad.
# Toss some with green beans or sautéed spinach.
2. Nuts
Bones aren’t hard and brittle; they’re living organs with live cells and fluids. Every day, bone cells break down and build up. That’s how they remain strong and heal after a break.
Walnuts – rich in alpha linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid – decrease the rate of bone breakdown and keep bone formation constant, according to a 2007 Nutrition Journal study. Brazil nuts are also great sources of magnesium.
So grab a small handful for a snack or sprinkle a couple tablespoons into your oatmeal. Keep in mind that nuts are high-fat and high-calorie, so limit your daily serving to one ounce – about 1/4 cup. Other foods with alpha linolenic acid include: flaxseed oil, ground flaxseeds, walnut oil, soybeans, soybean oil and canola oil.
3. Oysters
Long touted as an aphrodisiac, the oyster is our best source of zinc, a mineral important in immune function, normal growth, taste, smell, wound healing and dozens of enzymatic reactions in the body. One of those chemical reactions aids in the formation of bone collagen, the protein framework of bones that makes them somewhat flexible.
Enjoy oysters steamed, boiled, baked and in stews. A word caution about raw oysters: They may be contaminated with the bacteria vibrio, which can cause vomiting and diarrhea.
Women start to lose bone mass in their 30s. But a good diet will lower the risk of a weak skeleton. Here are 7 foods that are great for your main frame. Plus, you can make up for diet deficiencies with supplements, but how much do you know about them? Test yourself with our quiz…
4. Leafy Greens
Make green your new favorite color. Your salads and steamed greens are packed with bone-building nutrients, particularly calcium, magnesium and vitamin K.
Vitamin K is critical in forming bone proteins and cuts calcium loss in urine. Too little of this fat-soluble vitamin increases risk of hip fractures, research shows.
Just one cup of raw or a half-cup of cooked greens provides several times the recommended intake of 90 micrograms per day. Here are a few ways to sneak some extra greens in today:
# Add lettuce to your sandwiches. Even iceberg has vitamin K.
# Slip spinach leaves between layers of noodles in homemade lasagna.
# Start your dinner with a salad of spinach or mixed greens.
# Try dandelion greens or Swiss chard for dinner.
5. Beans
Have beans for supper tonight, especially pinto, black, white and kidney beans. You’ll get another good boost of magnesium and even some calcium. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends at least 2-1/2 cups of beans and other legumes (peas, lentils) weekly.
Bean-eaters reduce their risk of cancer, heart disease and obesity. Problem is, most people don’t know what to do with them. Here are a few ideas:
# At the beginning of the week, open and rinse a can of beans, and store them in your refrigerator. Each night, toss a heaping spoonful into your mixed green salad.
# Top nachos with red beans.
# Mix any canned bean into vegetable soups.
# Add black beans or kidney beans to pasta salads.
# Instead of coleslaw or potato salad, take a bean salad to your next potluck supper.
6. Fish
When it comes to bones, calcium is nothing without vitamin D, which we need so our bodies can absorb calcium. As with vitamin K, vitamin D deficiency also is linked to hip fracture. In fact, 50% of women with osteoporosis who were hospitalized for hip fracture had signs of vitamin D deficiency, according to a scientific review by the American Medical Association.
The best fish? Salmon. A small serving of salmon – only 3-1/2 ounces – gives you 90% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin D. If you want a double-whammy of bone-building nutrients, don’t just look to fresh fish. Canned salmon provides vitamin D and calcium… as long as you eat the bones. (Don’t worry, they’re soft.)
7. Dairy
Many of us forget about milk once we outgrow crazy straws and strawberry powder, but bones don’t stop developing in our teens. We add bone mass even in our 20s, but only if we consume enough of the nutritional elements.
Once we reach menopause and begin to lose estrogen, our bones lose calcium more rapidly than at any other time in our lives. Here again, calcium and vitamin D can help delay the loss of bone mass.
More Dos and Don’ts for Strong Bones
Do eat fruits and veggies. You’ve been told this over and over, but it’s worth repeating. Higher consumption means greater bone mineral density. Researchers can’t say why, but fruits and vegetables are loaded with an array of nutrients that build strong bones.
Do exercise. Get at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day. Weight-bearing exercises like running, dancing and lifting weights stress your bones in a good way. This signals your body to make more bone cells.
Don’t drink too much. Alcohol can inhibit the formation of new bone cells.
Women start to lose bone mass in their 30s. But a good diet will lower the risk of a weak skeleton. Here are 7 foods that are great for your main frame. Plus, you can make up for diet deficiencies with supplements, but how much do you know about them?
By Jill Weisenberger, MS, RD, CDE, LifeScript Nutrition Expert
Published February 19, 2009
Women start to lose bone mass in their 30s. But a good diet will lower the risk of a weak skeleton. Here are 7 foods that are great for your main frame. Plus, you can make up for diet deficiencies with supplements.
1. Seeds
Think of bone-building minerals and calcium first comes to mind. Our skeleton is largely made of calcium, but other minerals play a key role too. In fact, 50% of the body’s magnesium resides in our bones. Low levels are linked to fragile bones and calcium loss, research shows.
All seeds are good magnesium sources, but pumpkin seeds outshine the rest.
Here are a few ways to eat seeds:
# Measure a 1-ounce portion to take to work for an afternoon pick-me-up.
# Sprinkle a tablespoon or two onto your mixed green salad.
# Toss some with green beans or sautéed spinach.
2. Nuts
Bones aren’t hard and brittle; they’re living organs with live cells and fluids. Every day, bone cells break down and build up. That’s how they remain strong and heal after a break.
Walnuts – rich in alpha linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid – decrease the rate of bone breakdown and keep bone formation constant, according to a 2007 Nutrition Journal study. Brazil nuts are also great sources of magnesium.
So grab a small handful for a snack or sprinkle a couple tablespoons into your oatmeal. Keep in mind that nuts are high-fat and high-calorie, so limit your daily serving to one ounce – about 1/4 cup. Other foods with alpha linolenic acid include: flaxseed oil, ground flaxseeds, walnut oil, soybeans, soybean oil and canola oil.
3. Oysters
Long touted as an aphrodisiac, the oyster is our best source of zinc, a mineral important in immune function, normal growth, taste, smell, wound healing and dozens of enzymatic reactions in the body. One of those chemical reactions aids in the formation of bone collagen, the protein framework of bones that makes them somewhat flexible.
Enjoy oysters steamed, boiled, baked and in stews. A word caution about raw oysters: They may be contaminated with the bacteria vibrio, which can cause vomiting and diarrhea.
Women start to lose bone mass in their 30s. But a good diet will lower the risk of a weak skeleton. Here are 7 foods that are great for your main frame. Plus, you can make up for diet deficiencies with supplements, but how much do you know about them? Test yourself with our quiz…
4. Leafy Greens
Make green your new favorite color. Your salads and steamed greens are packed with bone-building nutrients, particularly calcium, magnesium and vitamin K.
Vitamin K is critical in forming bone proteins and cuts calcium loss in urine. Too little of this fat-soluble vitamin increases risk of hip fractures, research shows.
Just one cup of raw or a half-cup of cooked greens provides several times the recommended intake of 90 micrograms per day. Here are a few ways to sneak some extra greens in today:
# Add lettuce to your sandwiches. Even iceberg has vitamin K.
# Slip spinach leaves between layers of noodles in homemade lasagna.
# Start your dinner with a salad of spinach or mixed greens.
# Try dandelion greens or Swiss chard for dinner.
5. Beans
Have beans for supper tonight, especially pinto, black, white and kidney beans. You’ll get another good boost of magnesium and even some calcium. The U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends at least 2-1/2 cups of beans and other legumes (peas, lentils) weekly.
Bean-eaters reduce their risk of cancer, heart disease and obesity. Problem is, most people don’t know what to do with them. Here are a few ideas:
# At the beginning of the week, open and rinse a can of beans, and store them in your refrigerator. Each night, toss a heaping spoonful into your mixed green salad.
# Top nachos with red beans.
# Mix any canned bean into vegetable soups.
# Add black beans or kidney beans to pasta salads.
# Instead of coleslaw or potato salad, take a bean salad to your next potluck supper.
6. Fish
When it comes to bones, calcium is nothing without vitamin D, which we need so our bodies can absorb calcium. As with vitamin K, vitamin D deficiency also is linked to hip fracture. In fact, 50% of women with osteoporosis who were hospitalized for hip fracture had signs of vitamin D deficiency, according to a scientific review by the American Medical Association.
The best fish? Salmon. A small serving of salmon – only 3-1/2 ounces – gives you 90% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin D. If you want a double-whammy of bone-building nutrients, don’t just look to fresh fish. Canned salmon provides vitamin D and calcium… as long as you eat the bones. (Don’t worry, they’re soft.)
7. Dairy
Many of us forget about milk once we outgrow crazy straws and strawberry powder, but bones don’t stop developing in our teens. We add bone mass even in our 20s, but only if we consume enough of the nutritional elements.
Once we reach menopause and begin to lose estrogen, our bones lose calcium more rapidly than at any other time in our lives. Here again, calcium and vitamin D can help delay the loss of bone mass.
More Dos and Don’ts for Strong Bones
Do eat fruits and veggies. You’ve been told this over and over, but it’s worth repeating. Higher consumption means greater bone mineral density. Researchers can’t say why, but fruits and vegetables are loaded with an array of nutrients that build strong bones.
Do exercise. Get at least 30 minutes of physical activity each day. Weight-bearing exercises like running, dancing and lifting weights stress your bones in a good way. This signals your body to make more bone cells.
Don’t drink too much. Alcohol can inhibit the formation of new bone cells.
Women start to lose bone mass in their 30s. But a good diet will lower the risk of a weak skeleton. Here are 7 foods that are great for your main frame. Plus, you can make up for diet deficiencies with supplements, but how much do you know about them?
The Great Medical Waste: PSA Testing
Times Topics: Prostate Gland
EACH year some 30 million American men undergo testing for prostate-specific antigen, an enzyme made by the prostate. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1994, the P.S.A. test is the most commonly used tool for detecting prostate cancer.
The test’s popularity has led to a hugely expensive public health disaster. It’s an issue I am painfully familiar with — I discovered P.S.A. in 1970. As Congress searches for ways to cut costs in our health care system, a significant savings could come from changing the way the antigen is used to screen for prostate cancer.
Americans spend an enormous amount testing for prostate cancer. The annual bill for P.S.A. screening is at least $3 billion, with much of it paid for by Medicare and the Veterans Administration.
Prostate cancer may get a lot of press, but consider the numbers: American men have a 16 percent lifetime chance of receiving a diagnosis of prostate cancer, but only a 3 percent chance of dying from it. That’s because the majority of prostate cancers grow slowly. In other words, men lucky enough to reach old age are much more likely to die with prostate cancer than to die of it.
Even then, the test is hardly more effective than a coin toss. As I’ve been trying to make clear for many years now, P.S.A. testing can’t detect prostate cancer and, more important, it can’t distinguish between the two types of prostate cancer — the one that will kill you and the one that won’t.
Instead, the test simply reveals how much of the prostate antigen a man has in his blood. Infections, over-the-counter drugs like ibuprofen, and benign swelling of the prostate can all elevate a man’s P.S.A. levels, but none of these factors signals cancer. Men with low readings might still harbor dangerous cancers, while those with high readings might be completely healthy.
In approving the procedure, the Food and Drug Administration relied heavily on a study that showed testing could detect 3.8 percent of prostate cancers, which was a better rate than the standard method, a digital rectal exam.
Still, 3.8 percent is a small number. Nevertheless, especially in the early days of screening, men with a reading over four nanograms per milliliter were sent for painful prostate biopsies. If the biopsy showed any signs of cancer, the patient was almost always pushed into surgery, intensive radiation or other damaging treatments.
The medical community is slowly turning against P.S.A. screening. Last year, The New England Journal of Medicine published results from the two largest studies of the screening procedure, one in Europe and one in the United States. The results from the American study show that over a period of 7 to 10 years, screening did not reduce the death rate in men 55 and over.
The European study showed a small decline in death rates, but also found that 48 men would need to be treated to save one life. That’s 47 men who, in all likelihood, can no longer function sexually or stay out of the bathroom for long.
Numerous early screening proponents, including Thomas Stamey, a well-known Stanford University urologist, have come out against routine testing; last month, the American Cancer Society urged more caution in using the test. The American College of Preventive Medicine also concluded that there was insufficient evidence to recommend routine screening.
So why is it still used? Because drug companies continue peddling the tests and advocacy groups push “prostate cancer awareness” by encouraging men to get screened. Shamefully, the American Urological Association still recommends screening, while the National Cancer Institute is vague on the issue, stating that the evidence is unclear.
The federal panel empowered to evaluate cancer screening tests, the Preventive Services Task Force, recently recommended against P.S.A. screening for men aged 75 or older. But the group has still not made a recommendation either way for younger men.
Prostate-specific antigen testing does have a place. After treatment for prostate cancer, for instance, a rapidly rising score indicates a return of the disease. And men with a family history of prostate cancer should probably get tested regularly. If their score starts skyrocketing, it could mean cancer.
But these uses are limited. Testing should absolutely not be deployed to screen the entire population of men over the age of 50, the outcome pushed by those who stand to profit.
I never dreamed that my discovery four decades ago would lead to such a profit-driven public health disaster. The medical community must confront reality and stop the inappropriate use of P.S.A. screening. Doing so would save billions of dollars and rescue millions of men from unnecessary, debilitating treatments.
Richard J. Ablin is a research professor of immunobiology and pathology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and the president of the Robert Benjamin Ablin Foundation for Cancer Research.
EACH year some 30 million American men undergo testing for prostate-specific antigen, an enzyme made by the prostate. Approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1994, the P.S.A. test is the most commonly used tool for detecting prostate cancer.
The test’s popularity has led to a hugely expensive public health disaster. It’s an issue I am painfully familiar with — I discovered P.S.A. in 1970. As Congress searches for ways to cut costs in our health care system, a significant savings could come from changing the way the antigen is used to screen for prostate cancer.
Americans spend an enormous amount testing for prostate cancer. The annual bill for P.S.A. screening is at least $3 billion, with much of it paid for by Medicare and the Veterans Administration.
Prostate cancer may get a lot of press, but consider the numbers: American men have a 16 percent lifetime chance of receiving a diagnosis of prostate cancer, but only a 3 percent chance of dying from it. That’s because the majority of prostate cancers grow slowly. In other words, men lucky enough to reach old age are much more likely to die with prostate cancer than to die of it.
Even then, the test is hardly more effective than a coin toss. As I’ve been trying to make clear for many years now, P.S.A. testing can’t detect prostate cancer and, more important, it can’t distinguish between the two types of prostate cancer — the one that will kill you and the one that won’t.
Instead, the test simply reveals how much of the prostate antigen a man has in his blood. Infections, over-the-counter drugs like ibuprofen, and benign swelling of the prostate can all elevate a man’s P.S.A. levels, but none of these factors signals cancer. Men with low readings might still harbor dangerous cancers, while those with high readings might be completely healthy.
In approving the procedure, the Food and Drug Administration relied heavily on a study that showed testing could detect 3.8 percent of prostate cancers, which was a better rate than the standard method, a digital rectal exam.
Still, 3.8 percent is a small number. Nevertheless, especially in the early days of screening, men with a reading over four nanograms per milliliter were sent for painful prostate biopsies. If the biopsy showed any signs of cancer, the patient was almost always pushed into surgery, intensive radiation or other damaging treatments.
The medical community is slowly turning against P.S.A. screening. Last year, The New England Journal of Medicine published results from the two largest studies of the screening procedure, one in Europe and one in the United States. The results from the American study show that over a period of 7 to 10 years, screening did not reduce the death rate in men 55 and over.
The European study showed a small decline in death rates, but also found that 48 men would need to be treated to save one life. That’s 47 men who, in all likelihood, can no longer function sexually or stay out of the bathroom for long.
Numerous early screening proponents, including Thomas Stamey, a well-known Stanford University urologist, have come out against routine testing; last month, the American Cancer Society urged more caution in using the test. The American College of Preventive Medicine also concluded that there was insufficient evidence to recommend routine screening.
So why is it still used? Because drug companies continue peddling the tests and advocacy groups push “prostate cancer awareness” by encouraging men to get screened. Shamefully, the American Urological Association still recommends screening, while the National Cancer Institute is vague on the issue, stating that the evidence is unclear.
The federal panel empowered to evaluate cancer screening tests, the Preventive Services Task Force, recently recommended against P.S.A. screening for men aged 75 or older. But the group has still not made a recommendation either way for younger men.
Prostate-specific antigen testing does have a place. After treatment for prostate cancer, for instance, a rapidly rising score indicates a return of the disease. And men with a family history of prostate cancer should probably get tested regularly. If their score starts skyrocketing, it could mean cancer.
But these uses are limited. Testing should absolutely not be deployed to screen the entire population of men over the age of 50, the outcome pushed by those who stand to profit.
I never dreamed that my discovery four decades ago would lead to such a profit-driven public health disaster. The medical community must confront reality and stop the inappropriate use of P.S.A. screening. Doing so would save billions of dollars and rescue millions of men from unnecessary, debilitating treatments.
Richard J. Ablin is a research professor of immunobiology and pathology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and the president of the Robert Benjamin Ablin Foundation for Cancer Research.
Monday, April 12, 2010
What Are They Spraying Us With?
I have been following the chemtrail issue since 1996 when it first became noticeable in Arizona. Some days the sky is simply full of widening chemical spray that eventually turns a clear, sunny day into an overcast day. I have written about this previously. This was an excellent article I found and wanted to publish it to get the information out to as many people as I can.
Folks LOOK UP! What you are seeing is NOT contrails they are chemicals being sprayed by the government for whatever reason which they will not tell us. The two main chemicals are aluminum and barium. If you go get your hair tested for toxic chemicals you will most likely find that you are high in aluminum and barium. That is not coincidence, it is from the aerial assault we endure day after day with no explanation from the government. Write your Congress critter and your Senator and demand answers. But most of all...LOOK UP and see for yourself.
Dr. Mike
By Michael J. Murphy
4-11-10
What would you do if you were told that toxic substances being sprayed into the sky are falling to the ground and decimating eco-systems around the world? This very claim, made by concerned citizens outside the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting last month in San Diego, sparked my interest to investigate further.
The AAAS meeting hosted several top geo-engineering scientists who gathered to discuss the "plausibility" of implementing various geo-engineering programs throughout the world. One of the options addressed was the stratospheric aerosol geo-engineering (SAG) , AKA chemtrail program, where scientists discussed the "plausibility" of spraying aerosol aluminum, barium and other particles into the sky to block the sun as a means to "reduce" the Earth's temperature. When asked specifically about the potential risks associated with using aluminum in the program as an aerosol, scientists replied by stating that they have not studied much about the risks associated with aluminum and added that something terrible could be found tomorrow that they haven't looked at. When probed further about the deployment of existing aerosol programs, the scientists stated that no aerosol spraying programs have been deployed to date.
The concerned citizens I met outside the meeting were claiming quite the opposite. They came in protest after witnessing airplanes that they believe are regularly spraying aerosols into the upper-part of the sky. Many from this group have tested and found extremely high levels of aluminum, barium and other substances in their soil, rain, water and snow. Ironically, the substances that they reported finding are the same substances the scientists are "considering" implementing in the various aerosol spraying programs discussed at the meeting. They also believe that these substances are leading to the destruction of eco-systems and are coming from already deployed SAG programs. Due to the severity of this issue and my desire to know the truth, I was led to Shasta County in the Northern part of California to investigate not only the claims of what is being reported in the sky, but also claims of what is in the rain, water, snow and soil from what many residents are saying is the result of SAG programs.
The first stop on this trip led me to Dane Wigington's beautiful 2000 acre property overlooking Lake Shasta. As we toured his breath-taking land, he pointed to multiple trails that blanketed the sky. He claimed the trails are present on most days above Northern California. Wigington referred to this as a "moderate spraying day". Like many other residents in Shasta County, Wigington moved to the area to get away from the heavy pollution of Southern California that he grew up with as a child. His dreams of living off the land and becoming one with nature are now coming to a grinding halt as he is focusing his time and energy on the issue of geo-engineering.
Wigington became concerned about SAG when he began to notice dramatic changes in the solar power that he uses to supply his home and property. Owner of one of the largest residential solar systems in Northern California, he began to notice very high declines in solar power. It can be decreased by as much as 60 percent on what he calls "heavy spraying days". Wigington said, "The trails are literally blocking the sun". He also went on to say that he regularly samples the fine dust layers on top of his solar panels and other outdoor surface areas and frequently finds very high levels of aluminum and barium. Wigington believes that these are a product of SAG programs.
At the same time as finding decreased solar power, Wigington also began to witness dramatic changes on his property as the trees, grass, insects and wildlife started dying. This led him to get his first rain test just four years ago. The results were shocking as they found aluminum levels at 7 ug/l or 7 parts per billion. Although aluminum can be found around the world in smaller quantities, geo-hydrologists told him that this number was quite high. Since that time, he has had aluminum tests escalate as high as 50,000 percent to 3,400ug/l. That is literally toxic rain. These results prompted him to get additional pH tests from two USDA soil scientists which yielded more shocking results. The pH of the soil was 6.6 in one area and 7.4 in another. This is over 11 times the normal alkalinity of the soil which should be in the range of 5.0 to 5.5. It is important to note the tests were taken in the forest far removed from any highway or industry.
When asked what these changes can do to the ecosystem, Wigington replied by saying that it is devastating. He went on to say, "if this continues, we can only expect to see things get much worse. Not only are we seeing our trees dying here, but also a major decline in our wildlife and fish". As a matter of fact, Wigington stated that according to The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the salmon run, once seen in abundance in this area has declined from 769,868 in 2002 to 39,530 in 2009. That is over a 90 percent decline. Amazingly enough, this decline started occurring about the same period of time when residents began to see a dramatic increase in what they believe to be SAG programs. Wigington's efforts to get these issues and test results addressed has been largely ignored by government agencies and officials.
After a closer look at Wigington's property, my initial awe of the beauty and breath taking views led to sadness, frustration and anger over the contamination that is literally destroying the eco-system. This led me to investigate further by seeking an expert in biology. I packed up the car and headed north to the breathtaking town of Mt. Shasta. Mt. Shasta has been known for its beauty, clean air and as being the source of water for some bottled water companies. Many travel from around the world to mountain climb and vacation in this beautiful part of Western America.
Francis Mangels, BS in Forestry, Masters in zoology and a retired soil conservationist and wildlife biologist who worked for the U.S. Forest Service for over thirty five years, welcomed me into his beautiful home in the town of Mt. Shasta to discuss the "hidden" crisis that is occurring. Mangels alerted me to the rapid decline of fish in the nearby rivers and streams. Mangels brought me to a nearby creek that had an abundant supply of fish just a few years ago. Because the primary diet of the fish in the creek is aquatic insects, he performed a standard sample method to measure the amount of insects present. The samples he had performed before the alleged aerosol spraying campaign had yielded an average of 1000 aquatic insects. Our sample yielded only 31. This is over a 96% decline from samples taken just a few years ago. Mangels stated that because the fish live off of the insects, they are literally starving. This rapid decline is likely due to changes in the chemistry of the water. The only changes that Mangels is aware of are the dramatic increases of aluminum, barium and strontium which he believes is from SAG programs.
We also took time to test the pH of nearby soil and snow which contained over 10 times the alkalinity of the normal pH. Mangels has evidence that this drastic change in pH is also due to the massive increases of aluminum. He stated that forests, fields and farm ecologies thrive in acidic soils. Aluminum acts as a buffer that increases alkalinity and can decimate ecologies in large amounts. Mangels also pointed out that snow on Mt. Shasta was tested and sent to theEnvironmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) who found results that contained 61,100 ug/l or parts per billion of aluminum and 83 ug/l of barium. The normal amount of aluminum in the snow at Mt. Shasta is 0.5 ug/l. Drinking water allowable is 50ug/l. That means that the snow on Mt. Shasta has tested at 1200 times more poisonous than water standards allow for aluminum. Mangels said, "Mountain climbers that come from around the world are drinking the poisonous water from the snow on the mountain". Mangels went on to say that government action is required at just 1000 ug/l of detected aluminum. Although he alerted several government agencies of these findings, no governmental action has been taken to date.
Mengels brought me to several other locations around the town of Mt. Shasta where he tested the soil, rain, water and snow that also yielded tests that revealed the pH to be over ten times the normal alkalinity. He went on to say that these types of changes in soil, water and snow are very uncommon except in other areas around the world where people have been witnessing what many believe to be spraying from SAG programs. Mengels also stated that these changes have produced an "ecological crisis" and will have horrible consequences if continued. Mengels said, "Losses to our economy will be incredible and are on their way as we speak. Tree growth will be decreased which will result in the loss of logging jobs. It is also causing the decline of naturally occurring plant and grass growth that occurs in the normally acidic soils of grazing pastures, resulting in the demise of our grazing industry, fishing industry, and worst of all, basic agriculture in Northern California."
What is amazing is that these tests and many others throughout the world are largely being ignored by the very governmental entities that are required to address them. Some politicians, like Mt. Shasta City Council member Ed Valenzuela may choose to ignore the issue. Valenzuela was made aware of the mass contamination at a city council meeting where he stated that the city did not want to sample the water for aluminum because the request was a "can of worms" that would, "open a Pandora's box" that the city would have to pay for. Although several local citizens volunteered to pay the $22.00 cost of the test at an EPA lab, both Republican Committee Chairman Russ Porterfield, and Valenzuela voted no to having the water tested. The mayor Stearns wanted the test, but was overruled by a 3-2 vote. This response is not uncommon as Mengels has presented this issue and his scientific data to over 15 local and federal agencies including Senator Feinstein and Senator Boxer's office. To date he has received no response or action.
Is it a coincidence that the substances found in the rain, snow and soil in this region and around the world match the exact substances that scientists are "considering" implementing in various geo-engineering campaigns throughout the world? If not, then why have agencies and officials largely ignored these findings that are destroying our planet's eco-system? Could it be that officials are fearful of exposing a massive cover-up of a world-wide ecological crime? Or is it the belief that this issue is simply too large and too complicated a problem for them to tackle? Whatever the reason for this ignorance, we need to demand that our questions and shocking test results get addressed not only in Shasta County, but in every part of the world. Our future on this planet is dependent on this issue being addressed.
Because this movement has come under attack from those who appear to be protecting the many political and corporate interests associated with SAG, it is essential that all of us around the world get involved by testing the rain, snow, soil and various outdoor surfaces and reporting the results to our elected officials and local environmental agencies. We must also reach out and educate all those involved with SAG who might be unaware of the environmental implications associated with their programs. Testing for pH changes and metals is simple and can be performed almost anywhere at a nominal price.
Simple testing instructions and more information about geo-engineering programs can be found on the internet at www.geoengineeringwatch.org. Biologist Francis Mengels can be contacted by e-mail at bioguy0311@sbcglobal.net for more information on this issue, the tests he has performed and suggestions on testing procedures. Please take action by testing, reporting and demanding answers on this ever so important issue. Both nature and humanity depend on it. For more information, please contact me at whtagft@hotmail.com or visit my blog: http://truthmediaproductions.blogsot.com.
Folks LOOK UP! What you are seeing is NOT contrails they are chemicals being sprayed by the government for whatever reason which they will not tell us. The two main chemicals are aluminum and barium. If you go get your hair tested for toxic chemicals you will most likely find that you are high in aluminum and barium. That is not coincidence, it is from the aerial assault we endure day after day with no explanation from the government. Write your Congress critter and your Senator and demand answers. But most of all...LOOK UP and see for yourself.
Dr. Mike
By Michael J. Murphy
4-11-10
What would you do if you were told that toxic substances being sprayed into the sky are falling to the ground and decimating eco-systems around the world? This very claim, made by concerned citizens outside the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting last month in San Diego, sparked my interest to investigate further.
The AAAS meeting hosted several top geo-engineering scientists who gathered to discuss the "plausibility" of implementing various geo-engineering programs throughout the world. One of the options addressed was the stratospheric aerosol geo-engineering (SAG) , AKA chemtrail program, where scientists discussed the "plausibility" of spraying aerosol aluminum, barium and other particles into the sky to block the sun as a means to "reduce" the Earth's temperature. When asked specifically about the potential risks associated with using aluminum in the program as an aerosol, scientists replied by stating that they have not studied much about the risks associated with aluminum and added that something terrible could be found tomorrow that they haven't looked at. When probed further about the deployment of existing aerosol programs, the scientists stated that no aerosol spraying programs have been deployed to date.
The concerned citizens I met outside the meeting were claiming quite the opposite. They came in protest after witnessing airplanes that they believe are regularly spraying aerosols into the upper-part of the sky. Many from this group have tested and found extremely high levels of aluminum, barium and other substances in their soil, rain, water and snow. Ironically, the substances that they reported finding are the same substances the scientists are "considering" implementing in the various aerosol spraying programs discussed at the meeting. They also believe that these substances are leading to the destruction of eco-systems and are coming from already deployed SAG programs. Due to the severity of this issue and my desire to know the truth, I was led to Shasta County in the Northern part of California to investigate not only the claims of what is being reported in the sky, but also claims of what is in the rain, water, snow and soil from what many residents are saying is the result of SAG programs.
The first stop on this trip led me to Dane Wigington's beautiful 2000 acre property overlooking Lake Shasta. As we toured his breath-taking land, he pointed to multiple trails that blanketed the sky. He claimed the trails are present on most days above Northern California. Wigington referred to this as a "moderate spraying day". Like many other residents in Shasta County, Wigington moved to the area to get away from the heavy pollution of Southern California that he grew up with as a child. His dreams of living off the land and becoming one with nature are now coming to a grinding halt as he is focusing his time and energy on the issue of geo-engineering.
Wigington became concerned about SAG when he began to notice dramatic changes in the solar power that he uses to supply his home and property. Owner of one of the largest residential solar systems in Northern California, he began to notice very high declines in solar power. It can be decreased by as much as 60 percent on what he calls "heavy spraying days". Wigington said, "The trails are literally blocking the sun". He also went on to say that he regularly samples the fine dust layers on top of his solar panels and other outdoor surface areas and frequently finds very high levels of aluminum and barium. Wigington believes that these are a product of SAG programs.
At the same time as finding decreased solar power, Wigington also began to witness dramatic changes on his property as the trees, grass, insects and wildlife started dying. This led him to get his first rain test just four years ago. The results were shocking as they found aluminum levels at 7 ug/l or 7 parts per billion. Although aluminum can be found around the world in smaller quantities, geo-hydrologists told him that this number was quite high. Since that time, he has had aluminum tests escalate as high as 50,000 percent to 3,400ug/l. That is literally toxic rain. These results prompted him to get additional pH tests from two USDA soil scientists which yielded more shocking results. The pH of the soil was 6.6 in one area and 7.4 in another. This is over 11 times the normal alkalinity of the soil which should be in the range of 5.0 to 5.5. It is important to note the tests were taken in the forest far removed from any highway or industry.
When asked what these changes can do to the ecosystem, Wigington replied by saying that it is devastating. He went on to say, "if this continues, we can only expect to see things get much worse. Not only are we seeing our trees dying here, but also a major decline in our wildlife and fish". As a matter of fact, Wigington stated that according to The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, the salmon run, once seen in abundance in this area has declined from 769,868 in 2002 to 39,530 in 2009. That is over a 90 percent decline. Amazingly enough, this decline started occurring about the same period of time when residents began to see a dramatic increase in what they believe to be SAG programs. Wigington's efforts to get these issues and test results addressed has been largely ignored by government agencies and officials.
After a closer look at Wigington's property, my initial awe of the beauty and breath taking views led to sadness, frustration and anger over the contamination that is literally destroying the eco-system. This led me to investigate further by seeking an expert in biology. I packed up the car and headed north to the breathtaking town of Mt. Shasta. Mt. Shasta has been known for its beauty, clean air and as being the source of water for some bottled water companies. Many travel from around the world to mountain climb and vacation in this beautiful part of Western America.
Francis Mangels, BS in Forestry, Masters in zoology and a retired soil conservationist and wildlife biologist who worked for the U.S. Forest Service for over thirty five years, welcomed me into his beautiful home in the town of Mt. Shasta to discuss the "hidden" crisis that is occurring. Mangels alerted me to the rapid decline of fish in the nearby rivers and streams. Mangels brought me to a nearby creek that had an abundant supply of fish just a few years ago. Because the primary diet of the fish in the creek is aquatic insects, he performed a standard sample method to measure the amount of insects present. The samples he had performed before the alleged aerosol spraying campaign had yielded an average of 1000 aquatic insects. Our sample yielded only 31. This is over a 96% decline from samples taken just a few years ago. Mangels stated that because the fish live off of the insects, they are literally starving. This rapid decline is likely due to changes in the chemistry of the water. The only changes that Mangels is aware of are the dramatic increases of aluminum, barium and strontium which he believes is from SAG programs.
We also took time to test the pH of nearby soil and snow which contained over 10 times the alkalinity of the normal pH. Mangels has evidence that this drastic change in pH is also due to the massive increases of aluminum. He stated that forests, fields and farm ecologies thrive in acidic soils. Aluminum acts as a buffer that increases alkalinity and can decimate ecologies in large amounts. Mangels also pointed out that snow on Mt. Shasta was tested and sent to theEnvironmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) who found results that contained 61,100 ug/l or parts per billion of aluminum and 83 ug/l of barium. The normal amount of aluminum in the snow at Mt. Shasta is 0.5 ug/l. Drinking water allowable is 50ug/l. That means that the snow on Mt. Shasta has tested at 1200 times more poisonous than water standards allow for aluminum. Mangels said, "Mountain climbers that come from around the world are drinking the poisonous water from the snow on the mountain". Mangels went on to say that government action is required at just 1000 ug/l of detected aluminum. Although he alerted several government agencies of these findings, no governmental action has been taken to date.
Mengels brought me to several other locations around the town of Mt. Shasta where he tested the soil, rain, water and snow that also yielded tests that revealed the pH to be over ten times the normal alkalinity. He went on to say that these types of changes in soil, water and snow are very uncommon except in other areas around the world where people have been witnessing what many believe to be spraying from SAG programs. Mengels also stated that these changes have produced an "ecological crisis" and will have horrible consequences if continued. Mengels said, "Losses to our economy will be incredible and are on their way as we speak. Tree growth will be decreased which will result in the loss of logging jobs. It is also causing the decline of naturally occurring plant and grass growth that occurs in the normally acidic soils of grazing pastures, resulting in the demise of our grazing industry, fishing industry, and worst of all, basic agriculture in Northern California."
What is amazing is that these tests and many others throughout the world are largely being ignored by the very governmental entities that are required to address them. Some politicians, like Mt. Shasta City Council member Ed Valenzuela may choose to ignore the issue. Valenzuela was made aware of the mass contamination at a city council meeting where he stated that the city did not want to sample the water for aluminum because the request was a "can of worms" that would, "open a Pandora's box" that the city would have to pay for. Although several local citizens volunteered to pay the $22.00 cost of the test at an EPA lab, both Republican Committee Chairman Russ Porterfield, and Valenzuela voted no to having the water tested. The mayor Stearns wanted the test, but was overruled by a 3-2 vote. This response is not uncommon as Mengels has presented this issue and his scientific data to over 15 local and federal agencies including Senator Feinstein and Senator Boxer's office. To date he has received no response or action.
Is it a coincidence that the substances found in the rain, snow and soil in this region and around the world match the exact substances that scientists are "considering" implementing in various geo-engineering campaigns throughout the world? If not, then why have agencies and officials largely ignored these findings that are destroying our planet's eco-system? Could it be that officials are fearful of exposing a massive cover-up of a world-wide ecological crime? Or is it the belief that this issue is simply too large and too complicated a problem for them to tackle? Whatever the reason for this ignorance, we need to demand that our questions and shocking test results get addressed not only in Shasta County, but in every part of the world. Our future on this planet is dependent on this issue being addressed.
Because this movement has come under attack from those who appear to be protecting the many political and corporate interests associated with SAG, it is essential that all of us around the world get involved by testing the rain, snow, soil and various outdoor surfaces and reporting the results to our elected officials and local environmental agencies. We must also reach out and educate all those involved with SAG who might be unaware of the environmental implications associated with their programs. Testing for pH changes and metals is simple and can be performed almost anywhere at a nominal price.
Simple testing instructions and more information about geo-engineering programs can be found on the internet at www.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Diabetes epidemic threatens cardiovascular disease gains
The March, 2006 issue of the journal Diabetes published the finding of researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University of a large increase in the number of diabetes-related deaths and illnesses in New York City, including a significant rise in heart attacks among diabetics. This trend could threaten the decrease in cardiovascular disease and related deaths this country has experienced over the past few decades.
Drs Jing Fang and colleagues examined New York hospitalization and death records for individuals age 35 and older for the periods of 1989 through 1991, and 1999 through 2001. They found that during the intervening decade, mortality from stroke, cancer and all other diseases except diabetes declined, and that mortality from diabetes increased by 61 percent. The percentage of heart attacks among diabetic patients rose from 21 percent to 36 percent with the number of diabetics who suffered heart attacks doubling during this time period. This resulted in the number of heart attacks documented in New York City remaining stable over the period examined in the study. Additionally, days spent in the hospital following a heart attack declined for all but diabetic patients, for which time spent increased by 51 percent.
Senior author Dr Michael Alderman, who is a Medicine professor of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, commented, “Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S., and the leading cause of death among people with diabetes is coronary heart disease. We expected to see an increase in hospitalizations due to heart attacks among diabetics, but we were surprised by the magnitude of the increase and the sharply rising trend indicated by these findings.”
Dr Fang, who is currently with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, observed, “Over the past 30 years, the U.S. has achieved dramatic reductions in illnesses and deaths from coronary heart disease. But if this upsurge in diabetes-associated deaths and illnesses continues, it may put an end to the progress we've made in combating illness and death from coronary heart disease."
Protocol
Diabetes
* Lipoic acid protects LDL against oxidation and is beneficial in preventing and treating Syndrome X and diabetic complications such as neuropathy. As little as 150-300 mg daily of lipoic acid may be sufficient in healthy individuals. Diabetics usually take 150-300 mg of alpha-lipoic acid 3 times daily. For the last 30 years, German practitioners have used high doses of lipoic acid to improve insulin sensitivity and diabetic conditions.
* Carnosine interferes with the toxic glycation process, thereby preventing the formation of nonfunctioning structures in the body known as AGEs. Diabetics have greatly accelerated rates of glycation compared to nondiabetics. A suggested dosage is 1000 mg daily.
* Essential fatty acids protect the plasma membrane insulin receptors and reduce CRP. Type II diabetics should supplement with high quality fish oil which includes at least 400 mg of EPA and 1000 mg of DHA from fish oil.
* Carnitine improves blood glucose management and increases insulin sensitivity and glucose storage, essential for fat and carbohydrate metabolism. Deficiencies correlate with diabetic neuropathy. A suggested acetyl-L-carnitine dosage is between 300-1000 mg daily.
* Chromium regulates blood glucose levels, fights insulin resistance, lowers HbA1c, aids in weight loss, and inhibits glycation. A suggested dosage is 500-1000 mcg daily.
* DHEA deficiency is associated with a higher rate of insulin resistance and diabetes. A suggested dosage is 15-75 mg, taken early in the day (50 mg represents a typical daily dose). For a discussion relating to caveats surrounding DHEA supplementation and proper dosing based upon individual blood tests, refer to the Therapeutic Section of this protocol.
* CLA aids weight loss and may improve insulin sensitivity. A suggested CLA daily dose is three or four softgels per day of 1000-mg (78%) CLA capsules.
* Magnesium lowers blood glucose levels, increases insulin sensitivity, and calms the SNS. Use at least 500 mg of elemental magnesium daily.
* Silymarin improves hepatic glucose control and reduces free-radical activity. A suggested dosage for Syndrome X patients (those not yet diagnosed with diabetes) is a supplement that provides 250 mg a day of silibinin and 60 mg of silymarin. Diabetic patients often take 2-3 of these silibinin/silymarin capsules each day.
* N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) protects beta cells against free-radical destruction. A suggested dosage is 600 mg daily.
* CoQ10 enhances beta cell function and glycemic control and protects against heart disease. A suggested dosage is 100-300 mg a day.
* Vitamin C lowers blood glucose levels, inhibits glycation, prevents accumulation of sorbitol, strengthens capillaries, aids wound healing, and protects against free radicals. A suggested dosage is 1-3 grams daily in divided doses.
* Vitamin E reduces oxidative stress, enhances insulin sensitivity and glucose transport, and prevents complications arising from inflammation. Antidiabetic value has been observed using from 400-1200 IU of alpha tocopherol vitamin E daily along with a supplement that provides at least 200 mg of gamma tocopherol.
* Bilberry reduces blood glucose levels. A suggested dosage is 100-200 mg 3 times daily. (The bilberry extract should be standardized to contain 25% anthocyanidins.)
* Biotin aids in metabolism of macronutrients, enhances glucose utilization, and is beneficial in diabetic neuropathy. A suggested antidiabetic dosage is 8000-16,000 mcg daily.
* Vitamin K appears to play a role in insulin's response to glucose. Vitamin K is nontoxic at the recommended 10-mg daily dose.
http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-042.shtml
Drs Jing Fang and colleagues examined New York hospitalization and death records for individuals age 35 and older for the periods of 1989 through 1991, and 1999 through 2001. They found that during the intervening decade, mortality from stroke, cancer and all other diseases except diabetes declined, and that mortality from diabetes increased by 61 percent. The percentage of heart attacks among diabetic patients rose from 21 percent to 36 percent with the number of diabetics who suffered heart attacks doubling during this time period. This resulted in the number of heart attacks documented in New York City remaining stable over the period examined in the study. Additionally, days spent in the hospital following a heart attack declined for all but diabetic patients, for which time spent increased by 51 percent.
Senior author Dr Michael Alderman, who is a Medicine professor of epidemiology and population health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, commented, “Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions in the U.S., and the leading cause of death among people with diabetes is coronary heart disease. We expected to see an increase in hospitalizations due to heart attacks among diabetics, but we were surprised by the magnitude of the increase and the sharply rising trend indicated by these findings.”
Dr Fang, who is currently with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, observed, “Over the past 30 years, the U.S. has achieved dramatic reductions in illnesses and deaths from coronary heart disease. But if this upsurge in diabetes-associated deaths and illnesses continues, it may put an end to the progress we've made in combating illness and death from coronary heart disease."
Protocol
Diabetes
* Lipoic acid protects LDL against oxidation and is beneficial in preventing and treating Syndrome X and diabetic complications such as neuropathy. As little as 150-300 mg daily of lipoic acid may be sufficient in healthy individuals. Diabetics usually take 150-300 mg of alpha-lipoic acid 3 times daily. For the last 30 years, German practitioners have used high doses of lipoic acid to improve insulin sensitivity and diabetic conditions.
* Carnosine interferes with the toxic glycation process, thereby preventing the formation of nonfunctioning structures in the body known as AGEs. Diabetics have greatly accelerated rates of glycation compared to nondiabetics. A suggested dosage is 1000 mg daily.
* Essential fatty acids protect the plasma membrane insulin receptors and reduce CRP. Type II diabetics should supplement with high quality fish oil which includes at least 400 mg of EPA and 1000 mg of DHA from fish oil.
* Carnitine improves blood glucose management and increases insulin sensitivity and glucose storage, essential for fat and carbohydrate metabolism. Deficiencies correlate with diabetic neuropathy. A suggested acetyl-L-carnitine dosage is between 300-1000 mg daily.
* Chromium regulates blood glucose levels, fights insulin resistance, lowers HbA1c, aids in weight loss, and inhibits glycation. A suggested dosage is 500-1000 mcg daily.
* DHEA deficiency is associated with a higher rate of insulin resistance and diabetes. A suggested dosage is 15-75 mg, taken early in the day (50 mg represents a typical daily dose). For a discussion relating to caveats surrounding DHEA supplementation and proper dosing based upon individual blood tests, refer to the Therapeutic Section of this protocol.
* CLA aids weight loss and may improve insulin sensitivity. A suggested CLA daily dose is three or four softgels per day of 1000-mg (78%) CLA capsules.
* Magnesium lowers blood glucose levels, increases insulin sensitivity, and calms the SNS. Use at least 500 mg of elemental magnesium daily.
* Silymarin improves hepatic glucose control and reduces free-radical activity. A suggested dosage for Syndrome X patients (those not yet diagnosed with diabetes) is a supplement that provides 250 mg a day of silibinin and 60 mg of silymarin. Diabetic patients often take 2-3 of these silibinin/silymarin capsules each day.
* N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) protects beta cells against free-radical destruction. A suggested dosage is 600 mg daily.
* CoQ10 enhances beta cell function and glycemic control and protects against heart disease. A suggested dosage is 100-300 mg a day.
* Vitamin C lowers blood glucose levels, inhibits glycation, prevents accumulation of sorbitol, strengthens capillaries, aids wound healing, and protects against free radicals. A suggested dosage is 1-3 grams daily in divided doses.
* Vitamin E reduces oxidative stress, enhances insulin sensitivity and glucose transport, and prevents complications arising from inflammation. Antidiabetic value has been observed using from 400-1200 IU of alpha tocopherol vitamin E daily along with a supplement that provides at least 200 mg of gamma tocopherol.
* Bilberry reduces blood glucose levels. A suggested dosage is 100-200 mg 3 times daily. (The bilberry extract should be standardized to contain 25% anthocyanidins.)
* Biotin aids in metabolism of macronutrients, enhances glucose utilization, and is beneficial in diabetic neuropathy. A suggested antidiabetic dosage is 8000-16,000 mcg daily.
* Vitamin K appears to play a role in insulin's response to glucose. Vitamin K is nontoxic at the recommended 10-mg daily dose.
http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-042.shtml
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Growing Fresh Air with 8 Powerful Plants
Janelle Sorensen
What do you do when you become allergic to the air? When your lungs begin to shut down because the air is too contaminated? Kamal Meattle suffered from this fate and guess what his solution was? Grow new air. Based on years of NASA studies, other scientific research, and 15 years of his own testing, Meattle discovered that three common houseplants, used strategically throughout a home, could vastly improve the indoor air quality.
Here's the breakdown:
Areca Palm is "The Living Room Plant" - This plant is a daytime oxygen factory and Meattle recommends having 4 shoulder height plants per person.
Mother-in-Law's Tongue is "The Bedroom Plant" - This plant is an evening oxygen factory and Meattle recommends having 6-8 waist-high plants per person.
Money Plant is "The Specialist Plant" - This plant is the filter that removes formaldehyde and other volatile organic chemicals from the air.
If maintained appropriately, Meattle claims you could live inside a bottle with a cap on top and these three plants would generate all the fresh air you need.
Not looking to live in a bottle? These plants will certainly still improve your indoor air quality (even if you don't have quite so many). And, if you're not satisfied with just three options, other new research has identified five "super ornamentals" that demonstrated high effectiveness of contaminant removal.
These include the purple waffle plant (Hemigraphis alternataa), English ivy (Hedera Helix), variegated wax plant (Hoya cornosa), Asparagus fern (Asparagus densiflorus) and the Purple heart plant (Tradescantia pallida).
Of the 28 plants tested, these five were effective at reducing levels of a number of common household VOCs, including benzene, toluene, octane, alpha-pinene and TCE. The work, funded by the University of Georgia's Agricultural Experiment Stations, was published in the August 2009 issue of HortScience.
Ready to grow your own fresh air? NASA studies recommend that you use one good-sized houseplant in a 6 to 8-inch diameter container for every 100 square feet of your home. Though, additional research is being done to identify exactly how many of each type of species is necessary for remediation (as in Meattle's work). You should also be sure to keep the foliage clean and dust free (so the leaves can do their job). And, keep the top of soil clean and free of debris, as in some cases, that's where the bulk of the filtering is taking place.
The healthier your plants, the more vigorously they'll grow, and the better they'll clean the air for you.
Read more: http://healthychild.org/blog/comments/growing_fresh_air_with_8_powerful_plants/#ixzz0jrVR72wW
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